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GENERAL LAWS 



OF THE 



STATE OF VERMONT 



RELATING TO 



DEPT. of EDUCATION 




Published by authority, 1921 



GENERAL LAWS of 1918 

OF THE 

STATE OF VERMONT 

RELATING TO THE 

Department of Education 
With Amendments to 1922 



Published by authority, 1921 






2,62''^ 



■" '■""" -rr nii-imilii 

LIBRARY OF CONGftESS 

RECEIVED 

OCTS 






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TITLE 11. 

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

Part I. — Administration. 
Part II. — Teachers. 
Part III. — Public schools. 
Part IV. — School property and equipment. 
Part V. — Financial support of schools. 
Part VI. — Incorporated school districts. 
Part VII. — 'Normal schools (Repealed 1921). 
Part VIII. — State schools of agriculture. 
Part IX. — Mentally defective persons. 



PART I. 

ADMINISTRATION. 

Chapter 51. — State board of education, commissioner of educa- 
tion, superintendents and supervisors. 
Chapter 52. — Town district schools. 



CHAPTER 51. 

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, COMMISSIONER OF 

EDUCATION, SUPERINTENDENTS AND 

SUPERVISORS. 

State Board of Education. 

Sec. 1169. How and when appointed; term of office; 
chairman. The state board of education shall consist of five- 
persons. The members of the board first appointed shall hold 
office until the thirty-first day of January, nineteen hundred and 
sixteen, nineteen hundred and seventeen, nineteen hundred and 
eighteen, nineteen hundred and nineteen and nineteen hundred 
and twenty, respectively. The governor shall annually, on or 
before the fifteenth day of January, appoint one member of said 
board whose term of ofiice shall be five years. The governor 



shall annually, on or before the first day of February, designate 
a member of said board to be its chairman for the year beginning 
February first. 

Sec. 1170. Removal for cause. The governor may, 
after notice and hearing, remove a member of said board for in- 
competency, failure to discharge his duties, malfeasance, im- 
morahty or other cause inimical to the welfare of the public 
schools; and, in case of such removal, he shall appoint a person to 
fill the unexpired term. 

Sec. 1171. Office; meetings. The office of said board 
shall be the office of the commissioner of education. Said board 
shall annually hold at least four regular meetings and shall hold 
special meetings as required for the performance of its duties. 
The times and places for regular and special meetings shall be 
designated by the chairman of said board. Said chairman shall 
call a special meeting upon the written request of any two 
members. 

Sec. 1172. General powers and duties. Said board 
shall have supervision and management of the public educational 
system, including the state schools of agriculture as provided in 
part eight of this title, except as otherwise provided; and, through 
the commissioner of education, shall : 

I. See that the laws for the effective operation of schools 
are enforced; 

II. Supervise the expenditure of aU state money expended 
under the provisions of parts one and two of this title, and inspect 
all institutions in which or by which such money is used, and pre- 
pare a budget for such expenditure; 

III. Provide a method whereby the people may be informed 
as to the educational conditions and opportunities within the 
scope of pubhc instruction, and for such other educational pub- 
licity as may, in the judgment of said board, contribute to the 
enhghtenment and well-being of the citizens of the state; 

IV. Provide for all proper educational gatherings, institutes, 
summer schools and other like supplementary educational ac- 
tivities and for co-operation with the free pubfic library com- 
mission; 

V. Locate and establish without expense to the state a 
central normal school or school of education whenever suitable 
buildings, or adequate funds for the erection of the same, are 
provided by private gift or bequest; 

VI. Receive and use money from private persons or from 
educational or benevolent funds either for individuals, local in- 
stitutions or for schools in a supervision district or for general 
educational purposes, provided in its judgment such use is con- 
sistent with the best interests of the state; and 



VII. Make and promulgate regulations necessary for the 
execution of its powers and duties and of the powers and duties 
of all officers under its supervision or control. 

Sec. 1173. Same. Said board shall employ such in- 
spectors, lecturers, clerical assistants, and other officers and may 
pubHsh and distribute such books and circulars of educational 
information, as it deems proper. 

Sec. 1174. Reports; contents. Said board shall bien- 
nially report to the general assembly, stating its official acts for 
the two years ending on the thirtieth day of June next preceding. 
Such report shall show in detail the condition and progress of all 
educational work, the expenditure of school money and moneys 
appropriated or given for educational purposes within its super- 
vision and control, except the matter required to be reported by 
said board under the provisions of chapter seventy-two, and 
shall contain such recommendations as it deems proper. 

Commissioner of Education. 

Sec. 1175. Employment ; qualifications ; duties ; term ; 
salary ; reports. Said board shall employ a trained and skillful 
executive officer who shall have had special training and experience 
in educational work. Such person shall be the chief execu- 
tive officer of said board and its secretary and shall be called the 
commissioner of education. Said commissioner shall be appointed 
for an indefinite term and shall be subject to removal upon the 
majority vote of the entire board, and said board shall fix his 
salary. Said commissioner shall, at such times and in such detail 
as said board directs, make reports to said board concerning the 
pubKc educational system together with such recommendations 
as he deems proper for the promotion of the educational interests 
of the state. 

Superintendents. 

Sec. 1176. Sec. 1. Supervisory districts; superin- 
tendents; salaries. The State Board of Education shall divide 
the State into a sufficient number of supervisory districts to insure 
a reasonable supervision of all public schools, shall fix the salaries 
of superintendents of such districts which shall be paid by the 
state, and may remove a superintendent whenever in the judg- 
ment of said board the welfare of the schools require. 

Sec. 2. Election of superintendents. When a vacancy 
occurs in the office of superintendent of a supervisory district 
the commissioner of education shall forthwith submit to one 
of the school directors of the towns comprizing such district 
whom he shall designate as chairman, a list of persons qualified 
to perform the duties of superintendent. Said commissioner 
shall also notify each school director of the towns comprizing 



such supervisory district to meet at the time and place desig- 
nated by him for the purpose of electing a superintendent. Said 
directors shall meet at the appointed time and place and elect a 
superintendent by ballot from the list of qualified candidates 
submitted by the commissioner of education. A majority of 
those present and voting shall be necessary for a choice. The 
chairman of the meeting shall report the results of the election 
to the commissioner of education, and the state board of educa- 
tion shall employ as superintendent the person so elected. 

Sec. 3. Removal of superintendents. When two or 
more school directors in a supervisory district file with the com- 
missioner of education a complaint that the superintendent in 
their district is failing to perform properly the duties of his office, 
or is otherwise unsatisfactory, the commissioner shall, within fif- 
teen days from the receipt of such notice call a meeting of the 
school directors of the supervisory district in the same manner 
as provided in the preceding section. At such meeting the direct- 
tors shall vote on the following question : 

"Shall the superintendent now in office be retained?" 

If a majority vote in the negative, the chairman shall report 
the result of the vote to the commissioner of education and the 
term of office of the superintendent shall end three months after 
date of such vote; provided, however, that a vote on the removal 
of a superintendent shall not be taken more than once in a school 
year. 

Sec. 4. Districts having twenty-five or more schools. 
The provisions of this act shall not apply to a town school dis- 
trict or an incorporated school district, having twenty-five or 
more legal schools therein, unless a majority of the board of 
school directors of such a district so vote and so certify to the 
state board of education. 

Reports. 

Sec. 1177. How and when made; contents. Said 
superintendents shall report at least once a week to the commis- 
sioner of education, on blanks to be furnished by said commis- 
sioner, stating what schools have been visited during the week, 
the number of hours spent in each, the quality and kind of work 
being done by the teachers in such schools and such other facts 
as the commissioner may require. Said superintendents shall 
annually, on or before the fifth day of July, submit to the board of 
school directors of each district, a report of his services within 
such district, with information as to the condition and needs of 
the schools therein under his charge, and such report may be 
printed and distributed by said board. 

Sec. 1178. Districts having twenty-five or more 
schools. The provisions of the second preceding section shall 
not apply to a town school district or an incorporated school 

6 



district, having twenty-five or more legal schools therein, unless 
a majority of the board of school directors of such a district so 
vote and so certify to the state board of education. The board 
of school directors in such a district, not so voting, unless other- 
wise provided by the act of incorporation in case of an incor- 
porated school district, shall, at such time and in such manner as 
its by-laws provide, appoint a superintendent for such district 
who shall be under the general supervision of the state board of 
education and have the same powers and duties as superintendents 
appointed by said board. Said board of school directors shall 
fix the tenure of office of such a superintendent, have the power 
to remove him for cause, determine his salary which shall be paid 
by the district and shall certify the amount of such salary so de- 
termined to the state board of education, but such annual salary 
shall not be less than fifteen hundred dollars. The state shall 
pay such a district twelve hundred dollars annually, and annually 
an additional sum equal to half of the excess of such salary over 
fifteen hundred dollars; provided, however, that the state shall 
in no case pay to such a district more than two thousand dollars 
annually.* 

Sec. 1179. Superintendents' meetings. Said board 
shall provide for regional or state meetings of superintendents. 
All superintendents shall attend such meetings and shall be al- 
lowed their necessary expenses which shall be paid by the state. 

Sec. 1180. Regulations as to certain equipment. The 
lanterns and slides belonging to the state for the use of superin- 
tendents, shall be kept in the state house when not in use and 
shall be in charge of the commissioner of education. Said com- 
missioner may loan the same to superintendents who shall re- 
ceipt therefor. Expenses incurred in obtaining and operating a 
lantern and slides shall be paid by the district in which such 
lantern and slides are used and such expenses shall be charged to 
the school account. Damage or loss incurred during the time 
such a lantern and slides are in a district shall be paid by the dis- 
trict on presentation by said commissioner of a statement of such 
damage or loss. Moneys received for such damage or loss shall be 
expended by said commissioner in repairing the apparatus and 
in purchasing new equipment. 

State Supervisors. 

Sec. 1181. Employment; compensation. Said com- 
missioner shall, subject to the approval of said board, employ 
such number of trained and capable state supervisors as said 
board may authorize, whose compensation shall be fixed by said 
board and paid by the state. 

Sec. 1182. Same; duties. Said supervisors shall act 
under the direction of said commissioner and in such sections of 

*SeeSeo. 1176 



the state as shall be designated by him, but their work shall not 
be restricted to any particular section and their field of oversight 
shall be frequently changed. Said supervisors shall, cooperating 
with the superintendent and supplementing his work, spend their 
time in the schools assisting the teachers and demonstrating 
proper methods of instruction. Said supervisors shall perform 
such other duties as said commissioner, subject to the approval 
of said board, may prescribe. 



CHAPTER 52. 
TOWN DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 

Establishment. 

Sec. 1183. Definition. A town shall constitute a school 
district, except that when a town contains an incorporated school 
district, the town district shall consist of that part of the town riot 
embraced within such incorporated school district. 

Sec. 1184. Town to constitute district; town clerk's 
duties; school property. The division of a town into school 
districts shall no longer exist, except for the settlement of their 
pecuniary affairs; and the town clerk, in case the offices of the 
clerk and prudential committee are vacant in such a district 
whose financial affairs are not settled, may warn a meeting of such 
district as a resident district clerk; and said clerk or one of the 
selectmen of the town shall attend such meeting and preside 
over the same until a moderator is elected ; but all debts outstand- 
ing that have accrued against such a district for the purchase of 
lands, the erection of schoolhouses and repairs thereon shall be 
audited and paid by the town school district. 

Sec. 1185. Meetings; warnings therefor. At town 
meetings, the town district school officers shall be elected and 
other matters pertaining to the schools of such district shall be 
transacted. When a town contains an incorporated school 
district, the meeting of the town school district shall be regularly 
held at such time and place as may be determined at any annual 
town school district meeting provided that the warning for such 
meeting shall contain an article in substantially the following form : 

"Shall the town school district of 

hold its annual meeting at on ._. ?" 

The annual meeting of such town school district shall be 
held at the time and place determined by the voters of the town 
school district. Warnings for town and town school district 
meetings shall contain appropriate articles notifying the legal 
voters of the town school district of the election of its officers and 
for the transaction of other business of such district. 

8 



Sec. 1186. Qualifications of voters. Only the legal 
voters in town meeting residing in a town district and whose 
taxes due such district, if any were due, were paid prior to the 
fifteenth day of February preceding the annual town meeting, 
shall vote in town meetings for the officers of, and upon matters 
pertaining to, the schools of such district.* 

Sec. 1187. Directors elected by ballot, when. In town 
districts having more than four thousand inhabitants, the school 
directors shall be voted for upon a separate ballot deposited in a 
separate ballot box. 

Sec. 1188. Women may vote and hold offices. A 
woman, twenty-one years of age, whose list was taken in a town 
at the annual assessment preceding the town meeting and whose 
taxes due such town and the town school district were paid prior 
to the fifteenth day of February preceding such town meeting, 
or who has attained the age of twenty-one years subsequent to 
the last annual assessment, or who being taxable is exempt from 
taxation for any cause, shall, while residing in the town district, 
have the right to vote on matters pertaining to schools and school 
officers. Women, twenty-one years of age, shall have the same 
right as men to hold elective and appointive school offices. 

Directors. 

Sec. 1189. Election by ballot; term. Each town dis- 
trict shall have a board of school directors consisting of three 
citizens of the town district, one of whom shall be elected by 
ballot, at each annual meeting of the town except as otherwise 
provided, t and whose term of office shall be for three years, be- 
ginning the first day of July following, and until a successor is 
elected and qualified, and the provisions of sections three thou- 
sand nine hundred and thirty-nine and three thousand nine hun- 
dred and forty shall apply to such directors. 

Sec. 1190. Vacancies, how filled. The selectmen may 
temporarily fill a vacancy in the board of school directors until 
an election is had, and a record thereof shall be made in the town 
clerk's office. Vacancies in such office may be filled at special 
town meetings by the town district voters. 

Sec. 1191. Oath; chairman. Said directors shall be 
sworn, and shall annually, on or before the third day of July, elect 
one of their number chairman, and file a certificate of his election 
for record in the town clerk's office within five days. 

Sec. 1192. General duties. The board of school direc- 
tors shall have care of the school property of the town district 
and the managemnt of its school and keep the schoolhouses 
suitably repaired and insured. Said board shall, subject to the 
provisions of this title, determine the number and location of 
schools and may relocate or consofidate the schools as the interest 
of convenience and efficiency may require; but in the exercise of 

*See Sfecs. 1188, 3916 
tSee Sec. 1185 



such power, strict observance of the constitutional requirements 
as to competency in number and location shall be observed. Said 
board shall examine claims against the town district for school 
expenses and draw orders for such as shall be allowed by it, pay- 
able to the party entitled thereto. Such orders shall state defi- 
nitely the purpose for which they are drawn. Said board shall 
make regulations not inconsistent with law as to carrying the 
powers granted it into effect. 

Sec. 1193. Compensation. The compensation of school 
directors in payment for services rendered in the performance 
of their duties, which shall be paid by orders drawn by said board, 
shall be such sum as the town district votes at its annual meeting. 

Sec. 1194. Forfeiture for neglect. If a board of school 
directors causes or allows a payment to be made, not authorized 
by law, each member thereof so causing or allowing such payment 
shall be hable to the town district for the money so paid, to be 
recovered in an action of tort, on this statute. 

Sec. 1195. Reports; district not entitled to school 
moneys unless made. Said board shall annually, on or before 
the fifth day of July, prepare its report to the town district, con- 
taining, on forms prescribed and furnished by the state board of 
education, a classified statement under oath of the actual cash 
expenditures of the town district for the preceding school year for 
school purposes, and such other information as said board pre- 
scribes. Such report shall be prepared in dupHcate and one copy 
of the same shall be returned to the town clerk and the other to 
said board of education. A town district shall not be entitled 
to receive any portion of school moneys distributed by the state 
unless such returns are made. 

Sec. 1196. Same; individual accounts audited; pen- 
alty. On or before the first day of February annually said board 
shall prepare a record showing the number, date, to whom pay- 
able, for what and the amount of each order drawn by them, 
for the twelve months ending on the last day of January preced- 
ing, a classified statement of its expenditures for such period, a 
statement showing the number of elementary and high school 
pupils respectively, with the average amount expended for each 
such pupil and the cost of each separate school, a report of the 
conditions and needs of the schools and a recommendation as to 
the amount of money necessary to be appropriated for the use 
of schools for the following school year. Said board shall submit 
such records, statements, report and recommendation to the 
town auditors and said auditors shall audit the accounts of said 
board and include the substance of such record, statements, re- 
ports and recommendations in their report to the town. A 
director who neglects or refuses to have his own account as di- 
rector or the account of said board audited as herein provided, 
shall not receive compensation for his services, and his office shall 

10 



become vacant and shall be filled in the manner prescribed for 
the filling of vacancies occurring in such office. Such a director 
shall be ineligible to election or appointment to such office for 
one year next ensuing. 

Clerk. 

Sec. 1197. Appointment; term. Said board shall ap- 
point a clerk, who shall serve until his successor is appointed and 
shall be paid upon the order of said board. 

Sec. 1198. Absence or disability of clerk. In case of 
the absence, disability or neglect of the clerk, his duties shall be 
performed by said board. 

Sec. 1199. Duties of clerk. Said clerk shall keep a per- 
manent record of all proceedings of said board, and shall make 
such returns as the state board of education may require and on 
blank forms to be prescribed by said board. 

Truant Officers. 

Sec. 1200. Appointment; ex-officio officers. The 

board of school directors shall annually appoint one or more 
truant officers and report such appointments to the town clerk 
for record on or before the third day of July. The sheriff, de- 
puty sheriffs, constables and police officers shall also be truant 
officers ex-officio. 

Sec 1201. Compensation A person acting as a truant 
officer shall receive two dollars a day for time actually spent in the 
performance of his duties and shall be allowed his necessary ex- 
penses incurred in connection therewith, unless otherwise pro- 
vided, and the same shall be paid by the town district on orders 
drawn by said board. 



11 



PART II. 

TEACHERS. 

Chapter 53. — Examination and certijScation. 

Chapter 54. — Employment, compensation and contract. 

Chapter 55. — Teacher training. 

Chapter 56, — Pensions and teachers* retirement fund. 



CHAPTER 53. 
EXAMINATION AND CERTIFICATION. 

State Board of Education. 

Sec. 1202. General regulations prescribed by. The 

state board of education shall provide for the examination and 
certification of teachers, appoint times and places of examination, 
designate the examiners, fix the standard required for certification, 
classify the grades of certificates to be granted, prepare and pro- 
cure the printing of questions for such examinations and blanks 
for teachers' certificates^ and make all necessary regulations for 
such examination and certification and for the revocation of 
certificates, and all expenses connected with such examination and 
certification shall be paid by the state. 

Sec. 1203. Temporary provision as to term; revoca- 
tion. Certificates issued under the law in force March thirty- 
first, nineteen hundred and fifteen, shall be vaHd for the period 
and under the conditions provided by such laws, but the state 
board of education may revoke such a certificate at any time. 

Sec. 1204. Credentials granted by another state; 
reciprocal provision. Said board shall make regulations relat- 
ing to the recognition of teachers' certificates, diplomas and edu- 
cational credentials granted in any other state, provided such 
other state shall, by substantially reciprocal regulations or laws, 
recognize such certificates, diplomas and educational credentials 
issued in this state. 

Certificates Required. 

Sec. 1205. Age limit. A person shall not teach in a pub- 
lic school without having a certificate then in force. A certificate 
shall not be issued to a person under seventeen years of age. 

12 



CHAPTER 54. 
EMPLOYMENT, COMPENSATION AND CONTRACT. 

Employment and Compensation. 

Sec. 1206. Directors' duties; minimum compensa- 
tion; approval of superintendent. The board of school 
directors shall employ teachers and fix their compensation, but 
in no case shall the compensation be less than eight dollars per 
week. A teacher shall not be employed without the approval of 
the superintendent except as herein provided. The school 
directors in cases of emergency or lack of legally qualified teachers 
may grant a permit to a person to teach in their town provided 
that such person is at least seventeen years of age, a high school 
graduate, of good moral character and passes, with a grade of 
at least seventy -five per cent, an examination on the subjects 
to be taught given by or under the direction of the directors, con- 
firmed by the state board ot education. The directors may pay 
the person preparing and holding the examination reasonable 
compensation therefor. A permit issued by the school directors 
under the provisions of this section shall be good for one term only 
but may be renewed from term to term in the discretion of the 
directors but in no case to exceed three terms. 

Sec. 1207. Teachers' salaries; payable monthly. Said 
board shall make regulations as to the time and manner of the 
payment of teachers' salaries, including the amount to be paid 
by the state; but a teacher shall be entitled to receive monthly 
payment of salary, if such payment is demanded, notwithstand- 
ing any provision in such teacher's contract. 

Sec. 1208. Reimbursement by state. Town districts 
employing teachers of rural schools, who are qualified as shall be 
prescribed by the state board of education, and paying said 
teachers such salaries in excess of eight dollars per week as said 
board shall designate, shall be reimbursed by the state such sums 
per teacher so employed as said board shall determine, but such 
reimbursement per teacher shall not be greater than the differ- 
ence between the salary paid and eight dollars per week. 

Sec. 1209. Rural schools; definition. The words "rural 
schools" as used in the preceding section shall mean any elemen- 
tary school having not more than two teachers and offering in- 
struction prescribed for the rural school course. 

Contract. 

Sec. 1210. Requisites and contents. A contract be- 
tween a board of school directors and a teacher shall not be valid 
unless the same is in writing, or partly written and partly printed, 

13 



in triplicate, and signed by the chairman of said board and by 
the teacher. One copy thereof shall be filed with said board, one 
cipy with the teacher and one copy with the superintendent. 
Such contract shall specify the date when the teacher shall begin 
service, the time, grade and date of expiration of the certificate 
held by the teacher, the salary of the teacher and such other mat- 
ter as may be necessary for a complete understanding between 
the parties. 

Sec. 1211. Noncompliance with contract; penalty; 
dismissal; pro rata payment. A teacher, under contract to 
teach in a pubhc school, who, without just cause, fails to com- 
plete the term for which said teacher contracted to teach, shall be 
disqualified to teach in any pubhc school for the remainder of 
the school year. A superintendent may dismiss a teacher who, 
in his judgment, is incompetent or unfit for the position. Such 
dismissal shall be in writing and one copy shall be given to the 
teacher and one to the chairman of the board of school directors ; 
and thereupon such teacher's contract shall be void, but he shall 
be paid pro rata to the time of his dismissal. 

Time Allowed Teachers. 

Sec. 1212. For what purpose. The time, not exceeding 
five days during any one year, actually spent by a teacher in at- 
tendance upon a meeting of the state teachers' association, or 
upon educational meetings held under the authority of the state 
board of education, and the time actually spent by a teacher in 
visiting schools when so directed by the superintendent, shall, in 
determining the compensation of the teacher and the number of 
.weeks of school, be counted the same as if spent in teaching. 

Sec. 1213. Legal holidays; dismissal by permission 
of superintendent. A teacher in a public school shall not be 
required to teach on a legal hoUday, and the superintendent may 
give written permission to a teacher to dismiss school for not 
more than two days whenever such dismissal seems to said super- 
intendent necessary or proper. Such days shall, in determining 
the compensation of the teacher and the number of weeks of 
school, be counted the same as if spent in teaching. 

No. 1, Acts of 1921. Legal Holidays. 

(Section 35 of General Laws Amended.) 

Sec. 35. The first day of January, the twenty-second day 
of February, the thirtieth day of May, the fourth day of July, 
the sixteenth day of August, the first Monday in September, the 
twelfth day of October, the eleventh day of November, the twenty 
fifth day of December, and a day appointed or set apart by the 
governor or by the president of the United States as a day of 

14 



thanksgiving, prayer or other special observance, shall be legal 
holidays. The sixteenth day of August shall be known as 
"Bennington Battle day", the first Monday in September as 
"Labor day", the twelfth day of October as "Columbus day" 
and the eleventh day of November as "Armistice day". 

CHAPTER 55. 
TEACHER TRAINING. 

Duties of the State Board of Education. 

Sec. 1214. For the purpose of training teachers for the 
public elementary schools, including both rural and graded 
schools, the state board of education in its discretion may es- 
tablish not more than five nor less than three two year teacher 
training courses, and also may establish in connection with high 
schools, seminaries and academies one year teacher training 
courses. Said board may arrange for such practice departments 
in connection with the courses established by this act as may be 
necessary, and may, except as otherwise provided, increase or 
decrease the number of such one or two year teacher training 
courses whenever the interests of teacher training so require. 
The qualifications for admission to a one year teacher training 
course provided for by this act shall be fixed by said board, and 
shall be the same for all pupils who are enrolled in such a one 
year teacher training course. 

Sec. 1215. Said board shall prepare the courses of study 
to be given in such training courses, make rules governing ad- 
mission thereto, prescribe the standards requisite for graduation 
therefrom and provide as to the effect to be given to such gradua- 
tion as a basis for certificates to teach in the public schools; pro- 
vided, however, that the qualifications for admission to a one 
year teacher training course provided for by this act shall be fixed 
by said board, and shall be the same for all pupils who are enrolled 
in such a one year teacher training course. 

Sec. 3. Section 1216 of the General Laws is hereby amended 
so as to read as follows : 

- Sec. 1216. A person desiring instruction in such teacher 
training course shall, if qualified for admission, be furnished such 
instruction without payment of tuition, providing such person 
declares in writing to the state board of education an intention 
to complete such course and makes an agreement to teach in the 
public schools of this state for a subsequent period equal to the 
duration of such course of study; and said board shall make 
regulations relating to the designation of the particular course to 
which said person shall be admitted. 

15 



Sec. 4. The state board of education is hereby authorized 
to contract or arrange with local school boards or trustees for the 
use of facilities by such teacher training courses, not to exceed 
in expenditure in any case the actual additional annual cost in- 
curred therefor by said school boards or trustees; or said state 
board may provide such facilities, if the interests of the state can 
be better served thereby. 

Sec. 5. A person who has satisfactorily completed a one 
year teacher training course provided for by this act shall be 
entitled to a probationary certificate qualifying the holder for 
appointment to teach in the elementary schools for one year only, 
and such certificate may be renewable annually at the^discretion 
of the board. 

Sec. 6. Whenever a teacher in the elementary schools or a 
candidate for teaching in such schools, applies in writing to the 
state board of education for more advanced training than is fui-- 
nished by the teacher training courses, and satisfies said board 
of his or her worthiness for such a'dvanced training, said board 
shall arrange for such training at any institution of higher learn- 
ing within this state chosen by the student as it may deem proper; 
and said board is hereby authorized to contract or arrange with 
any such institution for the payment of tuition of such student, or 
the establishment of special courses for such advanced training, 
in such manner as shall best serve the interests of the state; 
providing, however, that not more than one-fifth of all money 
expended for teacher training annually shall be devoted to such 
advanced training. 

Sec. 1217. Teachers; compensation. Said board shall 
employ the teachers for such training courses and fix their 
compensation which shall be paid by the state. 



CHAPTER 56. 

PENSIONS AND TEACHERS' RETIREMENT FUND. 

Pensions. 

Sec. 1218. District may pension teacher; payable 
from school funds of district. On the recommendation of 
the board of school directors, a town district may, at its annual 
meeting or at a special meeting called for that purpose, vote to 
pension a teacher who has taught in the public schools for at least 
thirty years. Such pension shall be paid from the funds raised 
by such district for school purposes. 

Sec. 1219. Same; limitation. A pension voted under 
the provisions of the preceding section shall not exceed half of 
the average annual salary received by such teacher during his 
last five years of service. 

16 



Vermont Teachers' Retirement System. 

No. 57, Acts of 1919, (Replacing Sections 1220-1231). 
Section 1. DeJfinitions. The following words and phrases 
as used in this act shall have the following meanings: 

(1) "Teacher" shall mean any teacher, principal, supervisor 
or superintendent employed in a public day school within the 
state, or in any normal school, teacher training institution or 
school conducted under the director of institutions located within 
the state and controlled and supported wholly by the state. 

(2) "Public school" shall mean any day school conducted 
within the state under the authority and supervision of a duly 
elected board of school directors. 

(3) "Year" as used in this act referring to the term for 
school service of a teacher shall mean the same as "school year", 
as defined in the General Laws of the state at the time when the 
school service in question was rendered, provided, however, that 
the retirement board may in special cases determine what school 
service shall constitute the equivalent of a specified period of 
service under this act. 

(4) "Interest," unless herein otherwise provided, shall 
mean compound interest at such rate as shall be determined by 
the retirement board. 

(5) Wherever the word "he" appears it shall be taken 
to apply to females as well as males. 

Sec. 2. Teachers' retirement system. The Vermont 
teachers' retirement system, hereinafter called the retirement 
system, is hereby established, to become effective on July first, 
nineteen hundred and nineteen. 

Sec. 3. Teachers' retirement association. An asso- 
ciation to be known as the Vermont teachers' retirement asso- 
ciation, hereinafter called the retirement association, may be 
organized by and among the teachers in the public schools of the 
state. Membership in said association may be acquired under 
the following conditions : 

All teachers who shall serve in the public schools on or 
after July first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, may become 
members of the association, upon application to and approval 
by a majority of the retirement board and under such rules and 
regulations as it may prescribe. 

Sec. 4. Organization. The teachers who desire to be- 
come members of the retirement association shall, as soon as may 
be after July first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, adopt such 
form of organization for said association as shall be prescribed by 
the commissioner of education, the state treasurer and the insur- 
ance commissioner; and thereafter such organization shall be 
maintained for the purposes herein contemplated, with such modi- 
fications thereof as may be adopted from time to time by the mem- 
bers of the association with the approval of the retirement board. 

17 



Sec. 5. Teachers' retirement board. The administra- 
tion of the retirement system hereby established is hereby vested 
in a board to be known as the teachers' retirement board, herein 
called the retirement board, consisting of five members, as follows: 
The commissioner of education, the state treasurer, the insurance 
commissioner and two members of the retirement association. 
Upon the organization of said association the members thereof 
shall elect from among their number, in a manner to be approved 
by the commissioner of education, the state treasurer and the 
insurance commissioner, two persons to serve upon the retirement 
bord, one member to serve for one year and one for two years; 
and thereafter the members of the retirement association shall 
elect annually from among their number, in a manner to be ap- 
proved by the retirement board, one person to serve on said 
board for the term of two years. 

Until the organization of the retirement association and the 
election of two representatives therefrom to membership on the 
retirement board, the commissioner of education, the state 
treasurer and the insurance commissioner shall be empowered 
to perform all the duties of said board. 

When a vacancy occurs in the retirement board by reason of 
the death, resignation or inability to serve of one of the members 
chosen by the retirement association, such vacancy shall be filled 
by the retirement board, who shall appoint a member of said re- 
tirement association to serve until the next meeting of said re- 
tirement association duly called for the purpose of electing a new 
member for the unexpired term. 

The members of the retirement board shall serve without 
compensation, but they shall be reimbursed for all necessary 
expenses which they may sustain through their service on the 
board. All claims for such reimbursement shall be subject to 
the approval of the auditor of accounts. 

Sec. 6. General duties. The retirement board shall pro- 
vide for the payment of retirement allowances and such other 
expenditures as are prescribed by this act, and shall perform such 
other functions as are required for the execution of the provisions 
hereof; and to that end said board shall make by-laws and regula- 
tions not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, shall em- 
ploy a secretary, whose duty it shall be to keep a record of all its 
proceedings, and shall provide such other clerical assistance as 
may be necessary for the discharge of the duties prescribed 
hereunder. 

Sec. 7. Administrative duties. The retirement board 
shall adopt mortahty tables for the retirement system hereby 
created, and, except as herein otherwise provided, shall determine 
what rates of interest shall be established in connection with 
such tables or otherwise under the provisions hereof. Said 
board may modify such mortality tables or adopt others, and 

18 



may change rates of interest once established, unless otherwise 
provided herein, but not so as to impair the vested rights here- 
under of any member of the retirement association, unless such 
modifications or changes shall be assented to by such member. 
Said board shall establish and maintain, under competent ac- 
tuarial advice, a complete system of records and accounting. 

Sec. 8. Creation of annuity fund. The annuities here- 
inafter provided shall be paid out of a fund to be known as the 
annuity fund, which shall be constituted as follows : 

(1) Each member of the retirement association shall pay 
into the annuity fund, under regulations to be prescribed by 
the retirement board, such' percentage of his salary as may be 
determined by said board within the limits hereinafter prescribed. 
The rate of assessment for each school year, which shall not be 
more than five per cent of each member's salary, shall be estab- 
lished by the retirement board on or before the 1st day of April 
in each year, and notice thereof shall be given all members of 
the retirement association in such manner as the retirement 
board shall prescribe. Such rate of assessment shall be uniform, 
at any given time, for all members of the retirement association; 
provided, however, that no member shall in any one year pay 
into said fund less than sixteen dollars nor more than one hun- 
dred dollars. 

(2) Any inember of the retirement association, who for 
thirty years shall have paid into said fund his regular assessments, 
as above provided, shall be exempt from further assessments; 
but such member may thereafter, if he so elects, continue to pay 
his assessments into said fund. 

(3) The annuity fund shall also consist of such amounts 
as may be appropriated from time to time by the general as- 
sembly on estimates submitted by the retirement board, subject 
to approval by the board of control, as hereinafter provided. 
Such estimates shall provide for an appropriation sufficient 
to enable the board to credit annually to each member of the 
retirement association a sum equal to his contribution to the 
annuity fund and the additional allowance provided in section 
thirteen of this act. Provided, however, that the state shall not 
be called upon to pay into said annuity fund more than one hun- 
dred dollars in any year on account of the contribution of any 
one member of said retirement association. Such amount of 
the annual appropriation as is not required for contributions to 
the accounts of individual members as provided in this section 
shall be paid into the annuity fund. The total amount appropri- 
ated by the state in any one year to carry out the provisions of 
this act shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. 

Sec. 9. Contributions; how credited. The contribu- 
tions made by the members of the retirement association to the 
annuity fund hereinbefore created, shall be credited as made to 

19 



such members severally in individual accounts up to the time of 
retirement, and at the same time each member so contributing 
shall be credited individually with a like amount as the contribu- 
tion of the state. Contributing members shall also be credited 
with the interest earned by their several contributions and by 
the equal contributions made by the state as aforesaid. 

Sec. 10. Retirement. Any member of the retirement 
association, who shall have served as a public school teacher for 
a period of thirty years, of which twenty years, and the last five 
preceding retirement, shall have been in this state, may retire 
from service, in the public schools on or after attaining the age 
of sixty years, if a woman, and of sixty-five years, if a man, with- 
out forfeiting any of the benefits of the retirement system; and 
at any time thereafter, if incapable of rendering satisfactory 
service, such member may be so retired, with the approval of 
the retirement board. 

Sec. 11. Reinstatement of member. Any member of 
the retirement association, who shall have withdrawn from 
service in the public schools of the state, shall, on being reem- 
ployed therein, be reinstated in the retirement association upon 
such terms and conditions as shall be prescribed by the retire- 
ment board. 

Sec. 12. Retirement allowances. Except as hereinafter 
provided, a member of the retirement association, who shall 
have retired from service in the public schools of the state, and 
who shall have comphed with all the provisions of this act and 
with the rules and regulations of the retirement board hereby 
authorized, shall be entitled to receive from the annuity fund 
hereinbefore established, (1) such annuity as his contributions 
to said fund, with interest thereon, together with the like contri- 
butions made thereto by the state, and the interest thereon, will 
purchase on the basis of McClintock's table of mortality among 
annuitants, and an interest rate of three and a half per cent per 
annum; or, (2) at his option, he shall be entitled to receive an 
annuity of less amount, as may be determined by the retirement 
board for annuitants electing such option, with the provision 
that if the annuitant dies before receiving payments equal to 
the sum of his assessments hereunder and the contributions equal 
thereto made by the state, as hereinbefore provided, with inter- 
est, the difference between the total amount of said payments 
and the total amount of such assessments and contributions, with 
interest, shall be paid as an annuity to a surviving husband, or 
wife, as the case may be, or to his or her legal representatives as 
such member may elect, subject to such reasonable rules and 
regulations as the retirement board may prescribe. 

Sec. 13. Teachers already in service. Any teacher al- 
ready in the service of the state when this act takes effect, w^ho 

20 



shall become a member of the retirement association when forty- 
five years of age or older, shall on retiring as hereinbefore pro- 
vided, be entitled to receive the allowance prescribed in the pre- 
ceding section for members entering the service of the state as 
teachers after the passage of this act, and such additional allow- 
ance from the state as may be determined by the retirement 
board, the same to be paid as provided in the preceding section; 
but his total annuity hereunder shall not exceed one-half his 
average annual salary throughout his entire period of active ser- 
vice in the state. 

Sec. 14. Allowance in case of death or disability. A 
member of the retirement association, who shall have been a 
teacher in the public schools of the state at least six years, and 
who shall become totally and permanently disabled to teach, as 
determined upon examination by physicians approved by the 
retirement board, shall receive an annuity based upon the accu- 
mulated sum of his contributions and the equal contributions of 
the state, with interest, calculated on the basis of McClintock's 
table of mortality among annuitants and three and a half per 
cent interest, with such additional annual allowance from the 
state as the retirement board, in the exercise of sound discretion, 
shall deem equitable, the same being limited by his earning capac- 
ity in other occupations, such additional allowance to be con- 
tinued so long, and in such amount, as the retirement board may 
determine; provided, however, that in no event shall the total 
sum received annually by such member, under this section, in- 
cluding his annuity and the additional allowance above provided 
for, exceed half of his average annual salary through out his entire 
period of service as determined by the retirement board. 

If such retiring member should die before receiving in the 
form of an annuity all of the accumulations up to the time of his 
disability from his own and the state's annual contributions on 
his account, the balance shall be paid to his or her legal represen- 
tatives, as he or she may elect, subject to such rules and regula- 
tions as may be prescribed by the retirement board. 

Sec. 15. Allowance in case of resignation or dismissal. 

(1) Any member of the retirement association withdrawing 
from service in the public schools of the state, by resignation or 
dismissal, before becoming eligible to retirement under the pro- 
visions of this act, and who shall have been a member of the asso- 
ciation less than six years, shall be entitled to receive from the 
annuity fund all amounts contributed thereto by said member as 
assessments with interest at four per cent compounded semi- 
annually on January first and July first, but if at the time of such 
withdrawal such member shall have been a member of the asso- 
ciation for six years or more, he shall be entitled to receive from 
the annuity fund all amounts contributed thereto by him as as- 
sessments without interest, and in addition the contributions 

21 



made by the state on his account, as hereinbefore provided, with- 
out interest. 

(2) In case of the death of such member under the circum- 
stances above set forth, the several amounts to which he would 
be entitled, if living, shall be paid to a surviving husband or 
wife, or to the legal representatives of such deceased member, 
as may be elected, subject to the rules and regulations of the re- 
tirement board. 

(3) In the case of the death or withdrawal from service of 
such member before the completion of six years of service in 
the public schools of the state the contributions made by the 
state on his account, as hereinbefore provided, shall be placed 
in the reserve fund hereinafter established, for the general pur- 
poses of the retirement system. 

(4) Contributions returned as above provided shall be 
paid in lump sums or in installments as the member may elect, 
subject, however, to such reasonable rules and regulations as 
may be prescribed by the retirement board. 

Sec. 16. Exemptions. That portion of the salary or 
wages of a member deducted or to be deducted under this act, 
the right of a member to an annuity or allowance hereunder, and 
all his rights in the funds of the retirement system, shall be exempt 
from taxation, and from the operation of any laws relating to 
bankruptcy or insolvency, and shall not be attached or taken 
upon execution or other process of any court. No assignment 
by a member of any part of such funds to which he is or may be 
entitled, or of any right to or interest in such funds, shall be valid. 

Sec. 17. Administration of funds. (1) All funds of 
the retirement system shall be in the custody and charge of the 
state treasurer, who shall, with the approval of the retirement 
board, invest and reinvest such funds as are not required for 
current disbursements in accordance with the laws of the state 
governing the investment of the assets of savings institutions. 

(2) The state treasurer shall make such payments to the 
members of the retirement association from the annuity fund as 
the retirement board shall order to be paid in accordance with the 
provisions hereof. 

(3) On or before the first day of August in each year, the 
state treasurer shall file with the insurance commissioner and 
with the secretary of the retirement board a sworn statement 
exhibiting the financial condition of the retirement system on the 
thirtieth day of June in each year, and its financial transactions 
for the year ending on such date. Such statement shall be in 
the form prescribed by the retirement board, and shall be pub- 
lished with the report of the state treasurer. 

Sec. 18. Reserve fund. A reserve fund is hereby created, 
to consist of gifts and receipts from sources other than those here- 

22 



in specified, returns to the state of its contributions to the annuity 
fund as hereinbefore provided, and balances that may accrue 
on account of interest, savings or otherwise, which fund shall be 
maintained and used, in the discretion of the retirement board, 
for unforseen contingencies, expenses of administration, or any 
other purpose within the scope of the retirement system. 

Sec. 19. Accrued liabilities fund. An accrued habih- 
ties fund is hereby created, to consist of the Vermont state 
teachers' retirement fund, now in the custody of the state treas- 
urer under the provisions of sections 1220 to 1233, inclusive, of 
the General Laws, of such part of the reserve fund as the retire- 
ment board may from time to time transfer thereto, and of such 
other funds as may be received by the retirement board for the 
purposes contemplated in this section. Provided, however, that 
said Vermont teachers' retirement fund shall not become part of 
the funds of the retirement system as contemplated in this sec- 
tion except upon a vote to that effect of the Vermont state teach- 
ers' retirement fund association, duly certified to the retirement 
board by the president of said association. The accrued liabih- 
ties fund shall be drawn upon from time to time by the retire- 
ment board as needed to make up the contributions of the state 
to the retiring and disability allowances provided hereunder. 
Said fund shall be in all respects subject to the provisions of this 
act, and to the rules and regulation^ of the retirement board 
hereby authorized in respect to custody, investment, audit and 
disbursement. 

Sec. 20. Supervision of retirement system. The re- 
tirement board shall cause the system hereby estabhshed to be 
thoroughly examined by a competent actuary or actuaries, once 
in every three years, and oftener if deemed necessary, and may 
call an actuary in consultation at any time; and such board is 
hereby empowered to change the scale of contributions requii;ed 
of teachers, if deemed advisable as the result of actuarial ex- 
perience hereunder; but such changes shall not be effective as to 
teachers becoming members of the retirement association before the 
same shall have been made, unless assented to by such members. 

Sec. 21. Audit of accounts. The accounts of the re- 
tirement board and the books and accounts of the state treasurer 
as custodian of the funds of the retirement system, and the cash 
and securities in his hands representing such funds, shall be ex- 
amined and audited annually at the time and in the manner pre- 
scribed for the annual audit of the accounts of the trustees of 
the permanent school fund and the accounts of the state treasurer 
in connection therewith. 

Sec. 22. Appropriation. The sum of twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars per annum is hereby appropriated to carry out the 
provisions of this act for the biennial period beginning July 1, 1921. 

23 



Sec. 23. Changes in rules and regulations. The rules 
and regulations hereby prescribed for the administration of the 
retirement system hereby created, shall be subject to change 
by the retirement board whenever deemed to be for the best in- 
terests of the entire body of teachers in the service of the state. 
The benefits of the retirement system shall be enjoyed by each 
member of the retirement association so long as he meets all the 
requirements of this act and complies with all the rules and regu- 
lations of the retirement board. 

Sec. 24. Sections of General Laws repealed. Sections 
one thousand two hundred and twenty to one thousand two 
hundred and thirty-one, inclusive, of the General Laws are hereby 
repealed; provided, however, that those provisions of said sec- 
tions relating to the custody and control of the Vermont state 
teachers' retirement fund referred to in section twenty of this 
act shall continue in force until the transfer of said fund to the 
retirement system as hereinbefore provided. 
• Sec. 25. This act shall take effect from its passage. 

Approved April 8, 1919. 



PART IIL 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Chapter 57. — Establishment and courses. 

Chapter 58. — School year, attendance, discipline. 

Chapter 59. — Transportation and board of pupils. 

Chapter 60. — Instruction for advanced pupils in secondary 

schools. 
Chapter 61. — Junior and senior high schools. 
Chapter 61A. — Unorganized towns and gores. 
Chapter 62. — Federal aid for vocational education. 
Chapter 63. — Registers and returns. 
Chapter 64. — Medical inspection. 
Chapter 65. — Testing sight and hearing. 
Chapter 66. — Fire drills. 



CHAPTER 57. 
ESTABLISHMENT AND COURSES. 

Number, Location, Classification and Courses. 

Sec. 1232. Competent number; petition; state aid. 

Each town district shall have a competent number of elementary 

24 



schools and of such character and so located as to furnish ade- 
quate, reasonable and convenient opportunity for instruction of 
pupils. When three or more residents of any community having 
five or more pupils petition the school directors of a town for 
the estabhshment of a school in such community, such school 
directors shall forthwith confer with the commissioner of edu- 
cation, who shall advise with them as to the necessity of such 
school. If, in the judgment of the school directors, such school 
should be estabhshed, they shall as soon as possible provide the 
same and the commissioner of education shall give them such aid 
in locating, establishing and equipping such school as he may 
deem proper. 

Sec. 1233. Classification. The pubUc schools are hereby 
divided into kindergartens, elementary schools and secondary 
schools. 

Sec. 1234. Kindergarten defined; establishment. 
Kindergartens shall mean schools into which children under six 
years of age may be received. Such schools may be established 
by the board of school directors and at the expense of the town 
district. 

Sec. 1235. Elementary and secondary schools, de- 
fined. A school offering instruction in the rural school course 
or the elementary school course as promulgated, from time to 
time, by the state board of education, shall be considered an 
elementary school. A school offering instruction for advanced 
pupils as hereinafter provided, shall be considered a secondary- 
school. 

Sec. 1236. Evening schools; status. A town district 
mky maintain one or more evening schools for persons above 
the compulsory school age, and such schools shall be considered 
public schools. 

Courses. 

Sec. 1237. Board to prescribe and promulgate; rural 
school course and elementary school course defined ; sub- 
jects to be included. The state board of education shall pre- 
scribe and promulgate uniform courses of study for elementary 
schools, as follows: 

A six-year course which shall be known as the rural school 
course and adapted to the needs of pupils between the ages of 
six and twelve years. 

An eight-year course which shall be known as the elementary 
school course and adapted to the needs of pupils between the 
ages of six and fourteen years, and the first six years of such 
course shall be the same as the rural school course. 

Such courses shall include instruction in good behavior, 
citizenship, reading, writing, spelHng, Enghsh grammar, geogra- 

25 



phy, arithmetic, freehand drawing, the history and constitution 
of the United States, elementary physiology and hygiene, with 
special reference to the effect of alcoholic drinks and narcotics 
on the human system, and shall also include special instruction 
in the geography, history, constitution and principles of govern- 
ment of Vermont, and such other subjects including manual 
training and domestic science as said board, from time to time, 
deems appropriate to the needs of the pupils. 

Sec. 1238. Supplementary reader. The supplementary 
reader on the agricultural, industrial and other resources of 
state, pubhshed by the state, shall be used in such grades of the 
public schools as the commissioner of education shall determine. 
Such readers shall be supphed for the use of such schools as said 
commissioner shall direct. Such readers so furnished shall re- 
main the property of the state. Readers not in use in any school, 
shall, on the order of said commissioner and in such manner as 
he shall direct, be sent for use in such schools as said commissioner 
may order. 

Sec. 1239. Special Courses. The board of school di- 
rectors may provide for instruction in vocal music, physical cul- 
ture and drawing by the regular teacher or teachers, or by a 
teacher or teachers employed for such purpose. 

Sec. 1240. Pre-memorial exercises. The last half day's 
session of the pubHc schools before Memorial day shall be de- 
voted to exercises commemorative of the history of the nation 
during the War of the Rebellion and to patriotic instruction in 
the principles of liberty and the equal rights of man. 

Sec. 1241. Lincoln's birthday. Exercises in commem- 
oration of the birth, life and services of Abraham Lincoln shall 
be conducted in all pubhc, private and parochial schools on the 
twelfth day of February annually, and if such date is not a school 
day, such exercises shall be conducted on the last school day 
before such date. 

CHAPTER 58. 

SCHOOL YEAR, ATTENDANCE, DISCIPLINE. 

School Year. 

Sec. 1242. Commencement and close; general regu- 
lations. The school year shall commence on the first day of 
July and end on the last day of June following. Every pubUc 
school, other than secondary schools, shall be maintained for at 
least thirty-four weeks in each school year, and every secondary 
school for at least thirty-six weeks in each school year. The 
board of school directors shall make regulations dividing the afore- 
said weeks into terms by way of weeks and fix the number of 

26 



hours that shall constitute a school day and the number of days 
that shall constitute a school week, subject to change upon the 
order of the state board of education. If a public school is closed 
by reason of the prevalence of any contagious disease, or by the 
order of said board with the approval of the superintendent 
having supervision of such school, the time during which such 
school is closed shall be counted in determining whether such 
school has been maintained for the requisite number of weeks 
during that school year. 

Attendance. 

Sec. 1243. Legal pupil defined. The words "legal 
pupil" shall mean every child between the ages of six and eighteen 
years and every child who will become six years of age on or before 
the first day of January next following the beginning of the school 
year, but a person who has become eighteen years of age shall not 
be deprived of public school advantages on account of age. Ex- 
cept as herein provided, a child who is not a legal pupil shall not 
be received into a public school, except a kindergarten, without 
the consent of the superintendent of such school, and a child 
under eight years of age shall not be received into a public school, 
except a kindergarten, after the beginning of the fall term without 
the consent of the superintendent of such school. 

Sec. 1244. Between, construed. The word "between" 
as used in this title in respect to a specified age of a pupil, shall 
mean the period of time commencing on the birthday of such 
child when he becomes of the age first specified and ending on 
the day next preceding the birthday of such child when he be- 
comes of the age last specified. 

Sec. 1245. Residence defined; appeal to commis- 
sioner. For the purposes of this title, the residence of a pupil 
is where the person having control of him resides and the board 
of school directors shall determine such residence; but any in- 
terested person or taxpayer who is dissatisfied with the decision 
of said board as to such pupil's residence may appeal to the com- 
missioner of education, who shall determine such residence and 
his decision shall be final; provided, however, that the provisions 
of this section shall not affect the ultimate liability of a town under 
section one thousand two hundred and sixty-one. 

Sec. 1246. Non-resident pupils. Said board may re- 
ceive into the schools under its charge non-resident pupils, under 
such terms and restrictions as it deems best, and money received 
for the instruction of such pupils shall be paid into the school fund 
of the district. 

Sec. 1247. Same. A person having the control of a pupil 
residing in the vicinity of a school in an adjoining town district, 
if such pupil can be better accommodated in such school, may 
demand the privileges of the same for such pupil. The tuition 

27 



for such pupil shall be paid from the school money of the district 
in which such pupil is a resident; provided, however, if the parent 
of such pupil is a taxpayer in such adjoining district, each district 
shall pay such portion of the tuition as the tax paid by the parent 
in each district bears to the total tax paid by said parent in both 
districts. The tuition paid, however, shall not be greater than 
the cost per pupil per week for the maintenance of such school, 
but in no case shall it exceed one dollar and fifty cents per week. 

Sec. 1248. List of legal pupils. The clerk of the board 
of school directors shall annually, between the first and fifteenth 
day of August, prepare on forms to be prescribed by the state 
board of education, an accurate list containing the name 9,nd date 
of birth of each legal pupil residing in the town district, the name 
of the parent or other person having control of such pupil and 
such other facts as said board may prescribe. Said clerk shall 
keep such list on file and make such report therefrom as said 
board may require. Upon presentation of a certificate of the 
superintendent who has supervision of the schools of such dis- 
trict, that such list has been prepared as required by this section, 
said clerk shall be paid by the town district for preparing such 
list, six cents for each pupil named in such list. 

Sec. 1249. Penalty. A person having control of a child 
between the ages of six and eighteen years who refuses to give 
said clerk information as to the age of such child, or falsely states 
th6 same, shall be fined not more than twenty dollars. 

Sec. 1250. List furnished to board; duties of board. 
Immediately upon completion of the list mentioned in the second 
preceding section, said clerk shall furnish the board of school 
directors with a list of the legal pupils in the town district, with 
names in alphabetical order and the date of birth of each pupil. 
Before the opening day of the fall term, said board shall, subject 
to the approval of said superintendent, designate the school each 
pupil shall attend during the ensuing school year, and shall fur- 
nish said superintendent with a list of such pupils, with naraes 
in alphabetical order, the date of birth of and the school desig- 
nated for each pupil. Said board shall also, at the same time, 
furnish the teacher of the school so designated with a list of the 
pupils required to attend such school during the ensuing school 
year, together with the date of birth of each pupil. Said teacher 
shall inscribe on the sheet in the register of such school the names 
and dates of births so furnished. Said board may, at any time, 
with the consent of the superintendent, designate a different 
school for a pupil to attend. Said board shall, when necessary, 
designate, with the consent of said superintendent, the school 
to be attended by a legal pupil not included in such list and by a 
person who has become eighteen years of age. If said board 
designates a different school to be attended by a pupil or desig- 
nates a school to be attended by a person not included in such 

28 



list, it shall notify the teacher of the school in which such pupil is 
to be enrolled and furnish said teacher with the name of the pupil 
and the date of his birth, and shall, in case of a change in schools, 
notify the teacher of the school in which such pupil was enrolled 
that such pupil is no longer required to attend such school, and 
said teachers shall correct their registers accordingly. 

Sec. 1251. Attendance may be excused. The superin- 
tendent of a public school may, in writing, excuse any pupil from 
attendance upon such school for a definite time but for not more 
than ten consecutive school days, and such excuse shall be granted 
only for emergencies or for absence from town. 

Sec. 1252. Same. The superintendent of an elementary 
school held for more than one hundred and seventy school days 
in a school year, may, in writing, excuse any pupil of such school 
from attending more than such one hundred and seventy days. 

Sec. 1253. Same. The superintendent may, in writing, 
excuse a pupil who has reached the age of fifteen years and has 
completed the work required in the rural school course, from fur- 
ther school attendance if his services are needed for the support 
of those dependent upon him, or for any other sufficient reason. 

Sec. 1254. Legal pupils to attend school. A person 
having the control of a child between the ages of eight and sixteen 
years shall, unless such child is mentally or physically unable so 
to attend or is otherwise being furnished with the same education 
or has completed the elementary school course or the rural school 
course and the first two years of the junior or senior high school 
course or is excused by the superintendent or a school director 
as provided in this chapter, cause such child to attend a public 
school continuously for the full number of days for which such 
school is held. 

Sec. 1255. Pupil over age, after enrollment. A per- 
son having the control of a child over sixteen years of age who 
allows such child to become enrolled in a public school, shall cause 
such child to attend such school continuously for the full number 
of the school days of the term in which he is so enrolled, unless 
such child is mentally or physically unable to continue, or is ex- 
cused in writing by the superintendent or a school director; and 
in case of such enrollment, such person, and the teacher, child, 
superintendent and school directors shall be under the laws and 
subject to the penalties relating to the attendance of children 
between the ages of eight and sixteen years. 

Sec. 1256. Notice of non-attendance. If a pupil be- 
tween the ages of eight and sixteen years, who is not excused or 
exempted from school attendance, fails to enter school at the be- 
ginning thereof, or being enrolled, fails to attend the same, and if 
a pupil who has become sixteen years of age becomes enrolled in a 
public school and fails to attend, the teacher shall forthwith no- 

29 



tify the superintendent or school directors, and the truant officer 
unless said teacher is satisfied upon information that the pupil is 
absent on account of sickness. 

Sec. 1257. Exception. The provisions of the two pre- 
ceding sections in respect to school directors, their powers and 
duties, shall not apply to school directors in a town or city having 
twenty-five or more legal schools. 

Duties of Truant Officer and Superintendent. 

Sec. 1258. Notice by truant officer; penalty. Said 
truant officer shall, upon receiving the notice provided in the 
second preceding section, forthwith inquire into the cause of the 
child's non-attendance; and, if he finds that the child is absent 
without cause, he shall give written notice to the person having 
the control of such child that such child is absent from school 
without cause, and he shall also notify said person to cause such 
child to attend school regularly thereafter. If, after receiving 
such notice, said person fails, without legal excuse, to cause such 
child to attend school as required by this chapter, he shall be 
fined not more than twenty-five dollars nor less than five dollars; 
and the truant officer shall forthwith enter a complaint to the 
town grand juror of the town in which said person resides, or 
to the state's attorney of the county, and shall furnish him with a 
statement of the evidence upon which such complaint is based, 
and said grand juror or state's attorney shall prosecute said per- 
son. In such prosecution, the complaint, information or in- 
dictment shall be deemed sufficient if it states that the respondent, 
(naming him) having the control of a child of school age, (naming 
him) neglects to send such child to school as required by law. 

Sec. 1259. Legal pupil taken to school. A superin- 
tendent may and the truant officer shall stop a child between 
the ages of eight and sixteen years or a child sixteen years of age 
or over and enrolled in a public school, wherever found during 
school hours, and shall, unless such child is excused or exempted 
from school attendance, take him to the school which he should 
attend. 

Sec. 1260. Pupils, mentally or physically unfit. If a 
person having the control of a pupil represents to the superin- 
tendent having supervision of the school which such child should 
attend, that such child is mentally or physically unable to attend 
school, and if said superintendent has reason to believe that such 
representation is untrue, he shall investigate and, if he deems it 
advisable, shall request the health officer of the town or a com- 
petent physician to examine such child, but if there is a medical 
inspector in the district in which such school is located, said super- 
intendent shall request such inspector to examine such child. 
Said officer, physician or inspector shall examine the child and 

30 



make a report of his condition to said superintendent; and said 
superintendent shall, if the child is found mentally or physically 
unable to attend school, notify the teacher of such school and 
the truant officer of the town of such fact. The expense of such 
examination shall be paid from the school funds of the town 
district. 

Sec. 1261. Overseer of poor to be notified. If a person 
having the control of a legal pupil notifies said superintendent 
that he is unable to provide such pupil with suitable clothing for 
school attendance, and if, upon investigation, said superintendent 
is satisfied that such pupil does not have suitable clothing and 
that such person is unable to provide such clothing, said superin- 
tendent shall notify the overseer of the poor of the town in which 
such person resides, who shall at once provide suitable clothing 
for such pupil; and the town so furnishing the same may recover 
the expense thereof from the town chargeable with such child's 
support as is provided in chapter one hundred and eighty-two. 

Sec. 1262. Jurisdiction of non-residents. The super- 
intendent of a school in which a non-resident pupil is enrolled 
and a truant officer having jurisdiction of the pupils in such school, 
shall have the same authority and jurisdiction over such non- 
resident pupil and the person having the control of such pupil as 
they have over resident pupils and the persons having control of 
such pupils. 

Discipline. 

Sec. 1263. Corporal punishment. A teacher or a prin- 
cipal of a school, or a superintendent or a school director on re- 
quest of and in the presence of the teacher, may resort to any 
reasonable form of punishment, including corporal punishment, 
and to any reasonable degree, for the purpose of securing obedi- 
ence on the part of any child enrolled in such school, or for his 
correction, or for the purpose of securing or maintaining order 
in and control of such school. 

Sec. 1264. Dismissal of undesirable. A superintendent 
may, after consulting the local health officer, or if there is a medi- 
cal inspector, with such inspector, and with the consent of a ma- 
jority of the board of school directors, dismiss from school any 
pupil whose personal habits, infirmities or influence is such as to 
make the presence of such pupil harmful to the welfare of the 
school. 

Sec. 1265. Secret societies. A pupil enrolled in a pub- 
lic school shall not join or solicit any other pupil of such school 
to join any secret fraternity, club or society, whose membership 
is formed in whole or in part from the pupils attending such 
school, or take part in the organization, formation or continua- 
tion of any such fraternity, club or society, except such as are 

31 



sanctioned by the commissioner of education and the superin- 
tendent having charge of such school, after an impartial investi- 
gation of the nature of such organization. In the course of such 
investigation, the members of any such existmg or proposed or- 
ganization shall be given full opportunity to be heard, either in 
person or by deputy. The superintendent, pursuant to regula- 
tions which shall be made by the state board of education, shall 
have power to suspend or dismiss any pupil, or to prevent any 
pupil from graduating or participating in school honors, if, upon 
investigation had after notice to the pupil,such superinten dent finds 
him guilty of violating a provision of this section. The provisions 
of this section shall not apply to membership in temperance or 
reHgious societies or associations of any kind, nor to societies or 
associations which have been or may be established for the moral 
advancement of youth. 

Penalties. 

Sec. 1266. Truancy. A pupil enrolled in a public school 
who is guilty of wilful, continued and incorrigible truancy, or 
moral delinquency, may be sentenced to the Vermont industrial 
school for a period of not less than thirty-six weeks. 

Sec. 1267. Penalty for neglect. A superintendent, tru- 
ant officer or an overseer of the poor who refuses or neglects to 
carry out the provisions of this chapter, shall be fined not more 
than one hundred dollars. 

Sec. 1268. Teacher. A teacher who violates a provision 
of this chapter shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars 
nor less than five dollars. 

CHAPTER 59. 
TRANSPORTATION AND BOARD OF PUPILS. 

General Provisions. 

Sec. '1269. Duties of directors. The board of school 
directors shall, subject to the approval of the superintendent, 
have charge of and regulate the transportation and board of 
pupils in the schools under its charge, and contracts therefor shall 
be made by it. 

Sec. 1270. When furnished; compensation. Every 
legal pupil required to attend an elementary school, or required 
to pursue the first two years of the junior or senior high school 
course, who resides at least one and a half miles from the school he 
is required to attend, may be furnished with transportation to 
such school, whenever feasible, and, if not feasible, such pupil 
shall be furnished with board whenever necessary to afford him 
an opportunity to attend school. The state shall pay on ac- 
count of such board not to exceed one dollar per week per pupil, 
and town shall pap the remainder. 

32 



Sec. 1271. Compensation, when. The expense for such 
transportation shall be paid by the state in all town districts 
whose grand list does not exceed five thousand dollars; and in 
town districts having a grand list in excess of five thousand dollars, 
the state and the town district shall bear such expense in the 
ratio five thousand bears to the grand list of such district. Pro- 
vided, however, that a town district shall not receive from the 
state an average of more than twenty dollars a year for each pupil 
so transported. 

Sec. 1272. Same. The board of school directors may 
cause transportation to be furnished to a pupil residing less than 
a mile and a half from the school he is required to attend, if the 
exigencies of the case require, but in all such cases the expenses 
thereof shall be paid by the town district. 

Sec. 1273. Appeal to commissioner. Any interested 
person or taxpayer who is dissatisfied with the decision of the 
board of school directors as to transportation or board of a pupil, 
may appeal to the commissioner of education, who shall deter- 
mine the matter and his decision shall be final. The board of 
school directors shall, on complaint of any interested person or 
taxpayer as to the character of any person employed to trans- 
port pupils, hear the complaint and decide the matter, and there- 
upon, if such person or taxpayer is dissatisfied with such decision, 
an appeal may be taken to the commissioner of education, who 
shall determine the matter and his decision shall be final. 

Sec. 1274. Reports as to transportation. The super- 
intendent shall include in his annual report to the board of school 
directors of each town district, a report as to the pupils of such 
district who have been transported or boarded under the pro- 
visions of this chapter, and the expense thereof. Said superin- 
tendent shall annually, at a time which shall be fixed by the state 
board of education, make a report to said board as to all pupils 
transported or boarded under the provisions of this chapter, and 
the expense thereof. 

CHAPTER 60. 

INSTRUCTION FOR ADVANCED PUPILS 
IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

High Schools and Academies. 

Sec. 1275. Duties of town school districts; payment 
of tuition. Each town district shall maintain a high school or 
furnish higher instruction, as hereinafter provided, for its ad- 
vanced pupils at a high school or academy to be selected by the 
parents or guardian of the pupil, within or without the state; and 

33 



each town district shall, except as hereinafter provided, pay the 
tuition of such pupils to an amount not to exceed sixty dollars 
per school year per pupil, unless a town district votes to pay a 
higher rate of tuition. An interested person may appeal to the 
state board of education from the action of the board of school di- 
rectors in regard to the tuition to be paid for advanced instruction, 
and its decision shall be final. A person shall not be deprived of 
such instruction by reason of age. 

Sec. 1276. High school, defined. The words "high school" 
as used in the preceding section shall mean a school offering in- 
struction to pupils who have completed the elementary school 
course or the first two years of a junior or senior high school 
course; and the state board of education shall, subject to the pro- 
visions of this title relating to junior and senior high schools, de- 
termine the classification and standard of high schools and acad- 
emies and may make regulations governing recitation periods 
and fix the minimum amount of apparatus in s, high school or 
academy. A school shall not be considered a high school within 
the meaning of this title which is not approved by the state board 
of education. 

No. 60, Acts of 1921. Tuition of agricultural students at 
Lyndon Institute. 

Section 1. The state board of education is hereby author- 
ized to pay out of funds available under division VII of section 
thirteen hundred and seventy-one of the General Laws tuition 
charges for students who may apply for instruction in the agri- 
cultural department of Lyndon Institute, provided said students 
shall be qualified for admission as provided in sections twelve 
hundred and seventy-nine and twelve hundred and eighty of the 
General Laws, and provided further that the organization and 
courses of study of said agricultural department of Lyndon 
Institute shall have been duly approved by the state board of 
education. 

Courses of Instruction. 

Sec. 1277. Subjects taught; teachers. The course of 
instruction in high schools, other than junior and senior high 
schools, shall begin immediately at the completion of the elemen- 
tary school course. In high schools, other than junior and senior 
high schools and in such high schools if prescribed by the state 
board of education, instruction shall be given in English language 
and literature, higher mathematics, history and natural sciences; 
and instruction may be given in ancient and modern languages, 
political, social, moral and domestic sciences, agricultural and 
commercial subjects, music, physical culture and the fine and 
mechanical arts. The courses and subjects of study for all high 

34 



schools shall be approved by the state board of education, sub- 
ject to the provisions in respect to junior and senior high schools 
hereinafter provided, and the schools in each class and grade 
shall conform to the courses and subjects so approved for that 
class and grade. Every high school shall be considered a single 
school for which a single register shall be kept. All high schools 
shall be taught by a teacher or teachers of competent ability, 
good morals and legal certifications. An educational institution 
legally incorporated and providing instruction equivalent to 
that of a high school of any class shall be an academy. 

Sec. 1278. Manual training; domestic economy; agri- 
culture. A town district maintaining a high school, other than 
a junior or senior high school, having a four-year course as pre- 
scribed by the state board of education, may provide for and 
maintain courses or departments in manual training, domestic 
economy or agriculture with special instructors therefor, and if 
such courses or departments have been submitted to and ap- 
proved by the state board of education, and if not less than six 
hundred dollars has been paid in salaries for instruction in any 
of such courses or departments in a school year, the chairman 
of the board of school directors of such district shall make return 
under oath, to the state board of education of the amount so paid 
for salaries; and the auditor of accounts, on certificate of the 
state board of education, shall draw an order for two hundred 
dollars for each course or department so maintained. The ap- 
proval by the state board of education of such a course or de- 
partment shall stand until withdrawn by a notice in writing to 
the chairman of such board of directors. Such two hundred 
dollars shall not, however, be paid on account of courses or de- 
partments in a high school if the district in which such high school 
is located receives aid from the state or the United States in com- 
phance with the provisions of an act, entitled "An act to provide 
for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for coopera- 
tion with the states in the promotion of such education in agri- 
culture and the trades and industries; to provide for cooperation 
with the states in the preparation of teachers of vocational sub- 
jects; and to appropriate moneys and regulate its expenditure," 
approved February twenty-third, nineteen hundred and seven- 
teen.* 

Qualifications of Pupils for Advanced Instruction. 

Sec. 1279. Certificate. A pupil who has, under such 
regulations as the state board of education shall prescribe, satis- 
factorily completed the work of the elementary school course, 
or the first six years of such course, or the rural school course, 
shall be entitled to a certificate from the superintendent, which 

*See Chap. 62: 

35 



certificate shall specify the course or part of the course so com- 
pleted by such pupil. A pupil who receives such certificate at 
the completion of the elementary school course shall, upon pre- 
senting the same, be permitted to enter and become' enrolled as a 
student in the first year of a high school or academy as provided 
by law, or in case of the completion of the rural school course or 
the first six years of the elementary school course, in the first year 
of a junior or senior high school as provided by law. 

Sec. 1280. Certificate from outside district. A pupil 
who holds a certificate showing that he has satisfactorily 
completed the elementary school course or the rural school course 
in a district other than that of his residence shall be entitled to 
enter and become en-rolled as a student in a high school offering a 
four-year course, except a junior high school, or in a senior high 
school, as the case may be, according to his qualifications, main- 
tained in such district, and shall be entitled to the payment of 
his tuition by the district of his residence for the course he pursues 
in such high school; provided, however, that he shall not be 
entitled to have his tuition paid for the first two years of a senior 
high school course unless the district of his residence so arranges 
as hereinafter provided. 

Sec. 1281. Qualifications. If a pupil is not entitled to 
enter a high school as provided by this chapter by reason of not 
having attended the elementary schools of this state, and desires 
to enter a high school, the superintendent of the district in which 
such high school is located, shall, subject to such regulations as 
said board shall prescribe, determine the qualifications of such 
pupil to enter such high school. 

Liability of Districts for Tyition. 

Sec. 1282. Certificate or examination necessary. A 

town district shall not pay the tuition of a pupil for the first year 
of a four-year course in a high school or academy, other than a 
junior or senior high school, unless such pupil has received a cer- 
tificate for completing the elementary school course as provided 
by section one thousand two hundred and seventy-nine or has 
passed such examinations as shall be prescribed by the state 
board of education. 

Sec. 1283. Certificate. A town district shall not pay the 
tuition of a pupil for the third year in a junior or senior high school 
unless such pupil has received a certificate from the superintendent 
of the school last attended by such pupil, stating that such pupil 
has satisfactorily completed the elementary school course or the 
first two years of the junior or senior high school course. 

Sec. 1284. Qualifications for payment of tuition in 
advanced courses. A pupil who has completed without con- 
ditions the first year of a four-year course in a high school in a 
district other than of his residence, or in an academy in a district 

36 



other than of his residence, as provided by this title, or a pupil 
who has completed without conditions the third year in a junior 
or senior high school in a district other than of his residence, shall 
be entitled to payment of his tuition by the district of his resi- 
dence, and without examination, for three additional years in 
a high school or high schools offering advanced instruction. 

Sec. 1285. District to pay tuition only in approved 
schools. A town district shall not pay the tuition of a pupil 
receiving advanced instruction except to a high school or academy 
approved by the state board of education. 

Sec. 1286. Tuition to be paid to academy in student's 
town, when; exceptions. In a town district not maintaining 
a high school offering a four-year course as prescribed by the state 
board of education but having therein an academy offering such a 
four-year course, tuition for advanced instruction shall be paid 
to such academy only, unless applicants for such advanced in- 
struction can be better accommodated in approved high schools 
or academies nearer their homes; but any such applicant who is 
dissatisfied with the kind of instruction provided in such academy 
or cannot obtain the kind or course of instruction desired, may 
appeal to the state board of education and its decision shall be 
final in regard to the institution such applicant may attend. An 
academy shall not be regarded as the public high school of a 
town district except upon the approval of said board. 

Sec. 1287. Book rent. In case the school board of a 
town district maintaining a high school or the board of trustees 
of an academy do not charge tuition, but charge book rent in lieu 
thereof, such book rent shall be paid by a district not maintaining 
a high school and which has resident students in attendance upon 
such high school or academy, and the district paying such book 
rent shall be entitled to rebate from the state in the same manner 
and under the same provisions as is provided for districts paying 
for advanced instruction. 

State Aid for Advanced Instruction. 

Sec. 1288. Rebate from state to town district; classi- 
fication. Each town district maintaining a high school under 
the provisions of this title or paying tuition for higher instruction 
in an approved high school or academy, shall receive from the 
state a rebate for such higher instruction upon the following basis: 
town districts having a grand list of five thousand dollars or less 
shall receive twenty-five dollars per pupil per school year, those 
having a grand list of more than five thousand dollars and not 
more than seven thousand dollars shall receive twenty dollars 
per pupil per school year, those having a grand list of more than 
seven thousand dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars 
shall receive fifteen dollars per pupil per school year, those hav- 
ing a grand list of more than ten thousand dollars and not more 

37 



than fifteen thousand dollars shall receive ten dollars per pupil 
per school year, but those having a grand list of more than 
fifteen thousand dollars shall receive no rebate; provided, how- 
ever, that rebate shall not be allowed for pupils attending the 
first and second year of a junior or senior high school. 

Sec. 1289. Certificate to auditor of accounts. The 
school directors of each town district shall annually, in July, cer- 
tify under oath to the auditor of accounts in such form as said 
auditor directs, the number of pupils who have been furnished 
with such higher instruction, and said auditor shall thereupon 
draw an order in favor of each town district for the amount due 
therefor. 

Transportation of Advanced Pupils. 

Sec. 1290. When furnished. A town district may, by a. 
majority vote of its voters present and voting at a meeting, au- 
thorize its school directors to pay a reasonable sum for the trans- 
portation of its pupils attending a high school other than a junior 
or senior high school, or attending the last two years of a junior 
high school or the last four years of a senior high school, but such 
payments are not to be considered in the distribution of funds as 
provided by section one thousand two hundred and s^venty-onc 

Grammar School Lands. 

Sec. 1291. Directors to have control, when; applica- 
tion of income. The board of school directors or prudential 
committee of a school district within which grammar school 
lands are located, provided the revenue of such lands has not been 
granted to a particular academy or grammar school or to a par-^ 
ticular use by special act of the general assembly, shall have con- 
trol and management thereof, shall have power to lease the same 
on the expiration of existing leases and to collect and disburse all. 
revenues arising therefrom. If in any school district in which 
lands are located a high school or an academy, approved by the 
state board of education, is maintained by a town or incorporated 
school district, the revenues arising from such lands shall be used 
in the maintenance of such high school or academy; but if such a 
high school or academy is not maintained by the district, the 
revenues arising from such lands shall be used in the payment 
of the tuition of resident students pursuing advanced instruction 
in other districts. All funds that have accumulated in the hands 
of trustees from grammar school lands located within a town or 
incorporated school district shall be paid over to the board of 
school directors or prudential committee, as the case may be, to 
invest and control, for which bonds satisfactory to the selectmen 
shall be given, and the income from such investments shall be 
used in the same manner as the revenues of the grammar school- 
lands herein mentioned. 

38 



CHAPTER 61. 

JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS. 
Sec. 1292. Classification by board of education. The 

state board of education may, with the approval of the school 
directors in the town district concerned, divide the secondary 
schools of the state, now existing or hereafter to be established, 
into two classes : 

I. Junior high schools, having a four-year course; and 

II. Senior high schools, having a six-year course. 

Junior High Schools. 

Sec. 1293. When maintained. A junior high school 
may be maintained in a town district, unless by arrangement an 
academy in such district is in effect made the public school thereof, 
where the number of qualified pupils to be conveniently accom- 
modated reasonably warrants it. 

Sec. 1294. Courses of study. Junior high schools shall 
have a four-year course, flexible in character, designed for the 
instruction of pupils who have completed the rural school course 
or the first six years of the elementary school course, and suitable 
to the number and needs of local pupils; and the state board of 
education shall arrange for a course of study, including vocational 
opportunities, appropriate to the needs of the pupils in the several 
communities. In a town district where a junior high school is 
established, said board shall make the necessary readjustment of 
the course of study in the elementary schools. 
Senior High Schools. 

Sec. 1295. When maintained. Whenever necessity re- 
quires and the school directors approve, there may be as many 
central and readily accessible senior high schools, articulating 
directly with all neighboring junior high schools, as the number 
of pupils desiring the advanced instruction given only in this class 
of schools reasonably demands. The number and location of 
such schools and the regions to be served thereby, shall be deter- 
mined by the state board of education, and said board may desig- 
nate an academy as a senior high school. 

Sec. 1296. Courses of study. Senior high schools shall 
have: 

I. A four-year junior course of study as in junior high 
schools ; and 

II. A two-year senior course of study in advance of such 
junior course, appropriate to youth between seventeen and nine- 
teen years of age, who are fitting for college or are completing a 
course of general education or are seeking advanced vocational 
education. 

Instruction Outside District. 
Sec. 1297. May be furnished, when. The board of 
school directors of a town district not maintaining a junior or 
senior high school, or in which there is not an approved academy 

39 



as provided by the second and fourth preceding sections, may, 
subject to the approval of the state board of education, arrange 
for the first two years' instruction of its junior and senior high 
school pupils, or either, outside the district. 
Vocational Courses. 

Sec. 1298. To be maintained; courses; requirements 
for admission. Junior and senior high schools shall include 
within their courses of study, in accordance with such directions 
and regulations as to courses, teachers and equipment as the 
state board of education through the commissioner of education 
may prescribe, vocational courses in one or more of the following 
subjects: agriculture, manual arts, commercial subjects or domes- 
tic science, appropriate to the needs and environment of the 
particular school and for pupils between the ages of twelve and 
sixteen years. In the senior high schools, such course or courses 
shall be maintained in connection with the four-year junior 
course. In connection with the two-year senior course of a 
senior high school, there shall be maintained advanced vocational 
courses in the above mentioned subjects, appropriate for pupils 
qualified for admission thereto. Said board shall prescribe the 
requirements for admission to the vocational courses and shall 
supervise such courses and, for vocational courses in senior high 
schools, shall appoint the teachers therefor. 

Expenses and Appropriation. 

Sec. 1299. Borne by districts; reimbursement by 
state. The expense of maintaining vocational courses in junior 
high schools shall be borne by the districts in which such schools 
are respectively located; and the state board of education shall 
annually, from the funds hereinafter provided, apportion such 
sum to reimburse such districts for such expense as will tend 
fairly to equalize the facilities afforded by such courses and the 
burden of maintaining the same. 

Sec. 1300. Vocational courses; expense apportioned. 
The expense of maintaining vocational courses in senior high 
schools shall annually be apportioned by the state board of educa- 
tion between the state and the town districts served by such 
schools, and among such districts in such manner as will tend fairly 
to equalize the facilities offered by such courses and the burden 
of maintaining the same. 

Sec. 1301. Land provided by state. The state board of 
education may provide for use in connection with such schools 
such land as may be required for suitable instruction in gardening 
and other appropriate study in agriculture. 

Sec. 1302. Funds available; how used. Five thousand 
dollars of the moneys annually available for the use of the board 
of education shall be used for the purpose of carrying out the pro- 
visions of the three preceding sections. Any unexpended bal- 
anceof such moneys shall every year be paid into the permanent 
school fund. 

40 



CHAPTER 61A. 

Unorganized Towns and Gores. 

Sec. 1303. Supervisors' duties. Supervisors for unor- 
ganized towns and gores shall perform all the duties, have all the 
authority and be subject to all the liabilities of school directors 
and truant officers, as to all matters pertaining to schools in their 
respective unorganized towns or gores. 



CHAPTER 62. 

FEDERAL AID FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. 

Sec. 1304. State board, powers of. The board within 
this state to cooperate with the federal board of vocational edu- 
cation shall be the state board of education. Said board shall 
have all necessary power to cooperate with said federal board in 
the administration of an act of Congress, entitled "An act to pro- 
vide for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for 
cooperation with the states in the promotion of such education in 
agriculture and the trades and industries; to provide for coopera- 
tion with the states in the preparation of teachers of vocational 
subjects," approved February twenty-third, nineteen hundred 
and seventeen. 

Sec. 1305. Custodian of funds. The state treasurer 
is hereby designated as custodian, for the purposes of said act, 
to receive and provide for the proper custody of moneys paid to 
the state from the appropriations of the federal government for 
vocational education. 



CHAPTER 63. 
REGISTERS AND RETURNS. 

Registers. 

Sec. 1306. Form; prescribed by whom. The commis- 
sioner of education shall, with the approval of the state board of 
education, prescribe and procur^e blank forms for a school register 
for keeping a record of the daily attendance of pupils and con- 
taining printed forms of teachers' contracts, and interrogatories 
for procuring statistical and other information from teachers and 
school officers. 

Sec. 1307. Transmitted to superintendents; delivered 
to teachers. Said commissioner shall annually, in the month of 
June, transmit to each superintendent a sufficient number of 

41 



such registers to supply the needs of the schools under his super- 
vision. Said superintendent shall thereupon assign a register 
to each school and the same shall be the register for such school 
for the following school year; and, within ten days before the 
opening of each term of school, said superintendent shall deliver 
the assigned register to the teacher of the school. 

Sec. 1308. Teacher's duties. The teacher to whom a 
register is delivered, shall keep therein, in the prescribed form, 
a record of the daily attendance of each pupil, enter therein cor- 
rect answers to the interrogatories addressed to teachers, and 
shall deliver such register to the superintendent at the end of 
each term. 

Sec. 1309. Examinations by superintendent ; correct- 
ness certified; salary withheld, when. The superintendent 
shall, at the end of each term, examine the register of each school, 
and, if it is properly filled out and certified by the teacher, he 
shall give written notice thereof to the chairman of the board of 
school directors. An order shall not be drawn for the payment 
of the salary of a teacher for the month next preceding the close 
of the term, unless such notice is received. 

Sec. 1310. Superintendent's duties. Said superinten- 
dent shall enter in each register correct answers to the interroga- 
tories addressed to him, the name of the teacher or teachers of the 
school during the year for which the register was kept and the 
date and character of the certificate held by the teacher or teach- 
ers, and shall certify to the correctness of such entries. Said 
superintendent shall, on or before the third day of July, file each 
register so completed in the office of the town clerk of the town 
in which such school is maintained. 

Returns. 

Sec. 1311. Town clerk's duties. Each town clerk shall 
annually, on or before the tenth day of July, and at such other 
times as the commissioner of education directs, make out and 
return to him such statistics as he requires, and said commissioner 
shall receipt therefor. Such statistics shall be made out upon 
blanks which said commissioner shall furnish. 

Sec. 1312. Compensation. Each town clerk shall, upon 
presentation of such receipt from said commissioner, receive from 
the town treasurer three cents for each legal pupil in the town 
and the same shall be paid outof thegeneralfundsof thetown; but 
such compensation shall not be more than twenty dollars nor less 
than three dollars. 



42 



CHAPTER 64. 

MEDICAL INSPECTION. 

Sec. 1313. Medical inspector appointed, when. The 

board of school directors shall appoint one or more medical in- 
spectors for the schools in the town district, provided the legal 
voters of such district, at the annual town meeting, instruct said 
directors so to do. The compensation of such inspectors shall be 
fixed by said board and paid by such district. 

No. 56, Acts of 1921. 

Section 1. In a town which, pursuant to the provisions of 
section one thousand three hundred and thirteen of the General 
Laws, has voted, or shall vote to have medical inspection of 
schools, it shall not be necessary to thereafter annually vote upon 
the question, but such inspection shall be continued until the 
town, at any regular or special meeting^ duly warned for that 
purpose, votes to discontinue such inspection. 

Sec. 1314. Duties of inspectors. Said inspectors shall 
examine the pupils of such schools and comply with all rules and 
regulations which shall be prescribed by the state board of health 
relating thereto. 

Sec. 1315. Same. Said inspectors shall, under such rules 
and regulations, examine the pupils of any private school located 
in such district, when requested so to do 'by the principal thereof, 
or when any communicable disease is present in such district, 
or when the pupils thereof may have been exposed to any such 
disease. 

Sec. 1316. Pupil examined by physician, when. If a 
person having control of a pupil desires that such pupil shall be 
examined by a physician instead of by a medical inspector, such 
privilege shall be granted on written demand made to said board; 
and such examination shall, when so made and certified to by 
such physician, be in lieu of that made by an inspector, but such 
examination shall be without expense to such district. 

Sec. 1317. Medical inspector defined. The words 
"medical inspector" as used in this chapter shall mean either a 
Hcensed physician or a trained nurse. 

CHAPTER 65. 

TESTING SIGHT AND HEARING. 

Sec. 1318. Equipment furnished. The state board of 
health and the commissioner of education shall prepare suitable 
test cards, blanks, record books and other needed apparatus to 

43 



be used in testing the sight and hearing of pupils in the public 
schools, and the necessary instructions for their use. Said com- 
missioner shall furnish the same free of charge to every public 
school. 

Sec. 1319. Superintendent's and teachers' duties. 
The superintendent shall, in the month of Sejptember of every 
even year, cause the teachers of the schools under his supervision, 
to test the sight and hearing of every pupil seven years of age 
and older in such schools, to keep a record of such tests according 
to the instructions furnished, notify in writing the person having 
control of a pupil who is found to have a defect of vision or hear- 
ing or a disease of the eyes or ears, with a brief statement of such 
defect or disease, and to report the result of such test to said super- 
intendent, who shall report such results to the commissioner of 
education. Said superintendent shall also cause said teachers to 
test the sight and hearing of pupils becoming seven years of age, 
and at any time, the sight and hearing of any pupil apparently 
defective; and records, notices and reports of such tests shall be 
made as herein provided. 

Sec. 1320. Appropriation. The auditor of accounts 
shall draw an order for such sums and at such times as said com- 
missioner, with the approval of the state board of health, may 
require to carry out the provisions of this chapter, but the total 
amount so drawn shall not exceed six hundred dollars in any 
biennial period. 

Sec. 1321. Duties of medical inspector. The duties 
required of teachers und'er the provisions of this chapter shall, in 
a district having a medical inspector as provided by section one 
thousand three hundred and thirteen, be performed by said 
inspector. 

CHAPTER 66. 

FIRE DRILLS. 

Sec. 1322. Duties of principal or person in charge. 

The principal or person in charge of a public or private school or 
educational institution, other than a university or college, shall 
drill the pupils so that they may be able to leave the school 
building in the shortest possible time and without panic or con- 
fusion. Such drills shall be held at least once in each month, 
when such school or institution is in session. 

Sec. 1323. Penalty. A principal or person in charge of 
such a school or institution who wilfully neglects to comply with 
the provisions of the preceding section shall be fined not more 
than twenty dollars. 

Sec. 1324. This chapter printed in registers. This 
chapter shall be printed in every register supphed for use in the 

44 



public schools and in such manuals or handbooks as may be 
prepared for the guidance of teachers in a school or institution 
subject to the provisions of this chapter. 



PART IV. 
SCHOOL PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT. 

Chapter 67. — School buildings and equipment. 
Chapter 68. — Taking land for school purposes. 



CHAPTER 67, 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT. 

School Buildings. 

Sec. 1325. Duties of town district. Each town dis- 
trict shall provide, furnish, maintain and control schoolhouses 
suitable for schools under the provisions of this title. The board 
of school directors shall, when so authorized by the town district, 
have power to lease or purchase buildings or sites for school- 
houses, locate and erect schoolhouses, and sell or otherwise dis- 
pose of schoolhouses or sites for same, and for such purposes a 
district may raise a tax on its grand list. 

Sec. 1326. United States flag. Said board shall cause 
to be erected on each school house, or on the premises belonging 
thereto, a suitable flagpole, and shall, while the school is in session, 
at such times as it directs, cause a United States flag, which shall 
not be lettered or marked in any way, to be displayed thereon. 
A person who violates a provision of this section shall be fined not 
more than ten dollars. 

Equipment. 

Sec. 1327. Duties of directors. Said board shall select 
and provide all textbooks, appliances and supplies required for 
use in the elementary schools and for pupils taking the first two 
years of the junior or senior high school course, in the town dis- 
trict; and the same shall be paid for by such district. The selec- 
tion of such textbooks, appliances and supplies shall be subject 
to the approval of the superintendent of the schools of suclA dis- 
trict. Said board shall provide non-resident pupils attending 
such schools with the necessary textbooks, appliances and supplies 
under such regulations as the state board of education shall pre- 

45 



scribe. Said board of directors shall make such rules and regula- 
tions as it deems proper for care and custody of textbooks, ap- 
pliances and supplies provided by it. 

Sec. 1328. Liability for damage of person having con- 
trol of pupil. The person having the control of a pupil shall 
be liable to the town district for damage occasioned by the loss,, 
destruction or unnecessary injury or detention by such pupil of 
a textbook or appliance loaned such pupil, to be recovered in an 
action of tort, on this statute, in th« name of such district. 

Sec. 1329. No gratuity or compensation ; penalty. A 
member of the state board of education, the commissioner of 
education, a superintendent, a principal or teacher in a public 
school, or any person officially connected with the direction of 
such a school, shall not, directly or indirectly, receive any gra- 
tuity or compensation for recommending or procuring the adop- 
tion or purchase of such a textbook, appliance or supply. A per- 
son who violates a provision of this section shall be fined not more 
than one hundred dollars nor less than twenty-five dollars. 

CHAPTER 68. 

TAKING LAND FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES. 

Condemnation. 

Sec. 1330. Procedure. When the location of a school- 
house is determined and land for such schoolhouse and grounds 
in connection therewith are necessary, or when a town district,, 
an incorporated academy or other institution doing secondary 
school work as contemplated in section 1276 not operated for 
private gain, or an incorporated school district votes to purchase 
additional lands as necessary for agricultural experimenting^ 
athletic or other school purposes, or votes to procure the right to 
lay and maintain aqueducts and pipes across the land of any per- 
son when the public good and necessity require a new or addition- 
al supply of water for use of a schoolhouse, if the owner refuses to 
convey the same to such district or incorporated academy for a 
reasonable price, the selectmen of the town, or the selectmen of 
a town adjoining an unorganized town or gore in which such loca- 
tion has been determined, shall, on the application of the board 
of school directors or prudential committee, or clerk of said in- 
corporated academy, as the case may be, set out the necessary 
land or rights and cause the same to be surveyed, and thereupon 
the same proceedings shall be had as provided by sections four 
thoiifsand one hundred and sixty to four thousand one hundred 
and sixty-six, both inclusive, for taking lands for town purposes, 
and the provisions of such sections shall apply to a school dis- 
trict or incorporated academy desiring to take lands or to procure- 

46 



rights for the purposes aforesaid; provided, however, that said 
board of school directors or prudential committee or the trustees 
or governing officers of said academy shall have the power in 
lieu of the selectmen to refer the question of damages as provided 
in section four thousand one hundred and sixty-three; and, pro- 
vided, further, that all notices and petitions shall be served on the 
clerk of such district or the clerk of such academy in lieu of on 
the town clerk as provided in such sections. When the damages 
finally awarded for lands or rights so taken are paid by such dis- 
trict or academy to the person entitled thereto, title to such lands 
or rights shall vest in the district or academy for the purposes 
aforesaid. 

No. 102, Acts of 1921. Building Committee. A town 
or a town school district at any regular or special meeting called 
for that purpose, may vote to place the construction of a build- 
ing to be erected for public purposes under the general super- 
vision and control of a building committee. 



PART V. 
FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS. 



CHAPTER 69. 

SCHOOL TAXES AND FUNDS. 

Sec, 133L Grand list. The grand list of a town district 
shall consist of one per cent of the appraised value of the real and 
personal estate taxable therein, added to the taxable polls therein. 

Sec. 1332. School tax to be voted specifically; rate. 
Each town district shall, at each annual town district meeting, 
vote such sum of money as it deems necessary for the support of 
schools therein and shall express in its vote the specific sum or 
rate per cent on a dollar of its grand list. The sum so voted shall 
not be less than seventy-five cents on a dollar of its grand list, 
and a district raising a less sum shall not be entitled to any moneys 
apportioned by the state board of education except aid for super- 
vision. 

Sec. 1333. Duties of town treasurer. The town 
treasurer shall, by virtue of his office, be the treasurer of the town 
district and shall keep a separate account of the moneys appro- 
priated or given for the use of the schools of the town district, 
and shall pay out of such moneys orders drawn by the board of 

47 



school directors; and if he does not pay any such order on demand, 
the holder thereof may recover the amount from the town dis- 
trict, with interest from the time of such demand. 

Sec. 1334. Annual report. Said treasurer shall report 
at each annual district meeting the amount of moneys received 
for school purposes, the source from which received and how the 
same has been expended. 

Sec. 1335. Superintendent's duties. The superin- 
tendent shall ascertain whether the provisions of this chapter 
relating to the raising of money by the town district and the ex- 
penditure of same for the support of the schools under his charge 
are complied with; and, in case of non-compliance, he shall notify 
the state board of education. 

Town School Fund. 

Sec. 1336. Selectmen's duties. The selectmen shall 
have charge of the real and personal estate appropriated to the 
use of the schools in the town unless otherwise provided, or unless 
the person giving a part thereof directs the same to be managed 
in some other way, and shall annually render an account to the 
town. Said selectmen shall lease such lands, and loan such 
moneys on annual or semiannual interest upon sufficient real 
estate or personal security in this state. 

Sec. 1337. Same. The securities for the payment of the 
money so loaned and the interest thereon shall be taken in the 
name of the town; and the selectmen may, in the name of the 
town, prosecute and defend actions for the recovery or protection 
of the estate so intrusted to their care. If the title or possession 
of real estate mortgaged or deeded as security is recovered in 
such action, the selectmen may, in the name of the town, lease 
or sell and convey such real estate, and invest the moneys re- 
ceived therefrom as provided in the preceding section. 

Sec. 1338. Acknowledgments. A person qualified so 
to do may take the acknowledgment of a deed provided for in the 
two preceding sections, or may sign such deed as witness, al- 
though he is an inhabitant and taxpayer of the town. 

Sec. 1339. Securities; division of income. The se- 
curities belonging to the town school fund shall be deposited in 
the office of the town treasurer, to be kept by him in the fire proof 
safe or vault of the town, and moneys received on account of the 
same together with moneys received as rents of lands granted as 
glebes shall be paid into such treasury and a separate account 
thereof shall be kept on the books of the treasurer. The select- 
men shall annually, on or before September first, draw an order 
in favor of the town district treasurer for the moneys received 
^nder the provisions of this and the third preceding section except 
where there is an incorporated school district within the town; 

48 



in which case, the selectmen shall divide such moneys as provided 
in the following section and draw orders in favor of the treasurers 
of the respective districts in accordance therewith. 

Sec. 1340. Division of school moneys; legal school. 
If an incorporated school district, or part of such a district, exists 
in a town, all revenue from bequests, funds or public lands, not 
otherwise specifically disposed of by will, grant or act of the gen- 
eral assembly, but devoted to the public schools of such a town, 
shall annually, on or before the first day of September, be divided 
by the selectmen between the town district and the incorporated 
school district according to the number of legal schools main- 
tained in each during the preceding school year as certified by 
the state board of education as herein provided, and the portion 
of the revenue received by each district shall be credited to the 
school funds of that district. The state board of education shall 
annually, on or before the first day of August, certify to the town 
clerk of each town in which there is an incorporated school dis- 
trict or a part of such a district, as to the number of legal schools 
in the town district and in the incorporated school district or part 
thereof during the preceding school year. For the purposes 
of this section, a legal school shall be one maintained for the re- 
quired number of weeks, having an average attendance during 
such year of not less than six legal pupils, taught by a duly quali- 
fied and certificated teacher and the register of which has been 
kept, as provided by the provisions of this title. 

Sec. 1341. Statement. Said selectmen shall annually, 
in the month of September, after they have made the division 
of the public money as provided in the preceding section, lodge 
with the town clerk a written statement of the amount so divided. 

Sec. 1342. Forfeiture. A selectman who knowingly 
distributes public money to an incorporated school district not 
entitled thereto, shall forfeit to the town one hundred dollars to 
be recovered in an action of tort, on this statute. 

United States Deposit Money. 

Sec. 1343. Depository; apportionment; census. The 

state treasurer shall receive moneys belonging to the United States 
to be deposited with this state, and give a certificate of deposit 
for the same according to law. Such moneys sh'kll be apportioned 
to the several towns in proportion to the number of inhabitants 
in each. When a census is taken under the laws of Congress or 
of this state, a new apportionment shall be made. If upon such 
new apportionment, it appears that a town has more than its 
share, the state treasurer shall demand and recover from such 
town such excess; and if a town has less than its share, said treas- 
urer shall not make up the deficiency. 

Sec. 1344. Bond; vacancy. The trustees of public 
money shall, before entering upon the duties of their office, exe- 

49 



cute a bond to the town with sufficient sureties, in such sum as 
the selectmen direct, conditioned for the faithful performance of 
their duties in loaning, managing, accounting* for and paying 
over, as may be required by law, the moneys placed m their 
charge. If a trustee fails to execute such bond, his office shall be 
vacant, and such vacancies may be filled as vacancies in other 
town offices. 

Sec. 1345. Liability of town. If a town has received 
its portion of deposit money, it shall be accountable for the same 
when required by the state treasurer on requisition of the United 
States, or for the purposes of a new apportionment, as a town is 
accountable for state taxes. 

Sec. 1346. Duties of state treasurer. The state treas- 
urer, in the collection of the United States deposit money loaned 
by former treasurers, shall adjust and settle the same as is for 
the interest of the state. 

Permanent School Fund. 

Sec. 1347. How constituted ; investment. The sum of 

two hundred and forty thousand dollars returned by the national 
government to the state in settlement of the civil war claims, 
the Huntington fund, the school fund of eighteen hundred and 
twenty-five of two hundred thirty-four thousand and nine hun- 
dred dollars and forty-four cents, the United States deposit 
money, and such other additions as may be made to the fund 
hereby estabhshed, shall be held intact and in reserve in the state 
treasury as the permanent school fund but shall be subject to the 
order of the trustees of the permanent school fund for investment. 

Sec. 1348. Trustees; term of office; appointment. 
The trustees of the permanent school fund shall consist of three 
persons. The trustees appointed in the year nineteen hundred 
and fifteen shall hold office for the period designated in their com- 
missions, respectively. The governor shall biennially, in the 
month of January, appoint one trustee whose term of office shall 
be six years. The governor may remove a trustee from office. 

Sec. 1349. Organization; meetings; record. Said trus- 
tees shall organize by the election of a chairman and a secretary, 
at a meeting to be held in the state capitol at two o'clock in the 
afternoon on the* second Tuesday of February in each biennial 
year, or at an adjournment thereof, or at a special meeting duly 
called if the organization is not then completed. Vacancies in 
such offices may be filled at a regular meeting or at a special meet- 
ing called for that purpose. Regular meetings shall be held at 
such times and places as said trustees by vote determine. On the 
request of a trustee, the secretary shall call a special meeting by 
notice in writing mailed to each trustee at least three days before 
such meeting, but the trustees may act without notice of a special 
meeting when all are present. Said secretary shall keep a record 

*See Sec. 4013. 

50 



of the proceedings of the trustees, recording in detail the proceed- 
ings relating to investment, income, distribution and management 
of the permanent school fund.* 

Sec. 1350. Duties of trustees. Said trustees shall, by- 
unanimous action, make all investments of the permanent school 
fund and designate depositories therefor, and shall execute all 
checks, orders, transfers or releases of securites, and do all things 
necessary for the proper management of the assets and income 
of such fund. Said trustees shall invest the permanent school 
fund in the following named securities only: United States 
bonds, state bonds, bonds of cities and school districts located in 
the United States and having a population of over twenty thou- 
sand, and bonds of towns, cities and villages in this state whose 
total indebtedness does not exceed five times the amount of the 
grand list. All purchases and sales of securities shall be made 
by, and all securities shall be taken in the name of, and so far as 
possible made payable to, the trustees of the permanent school 
fund and shall be deposited with the state treasurer. Said trus- 
tees may receive gifts, bequests or additions to such permanent 
school fund. Said trustees shall, on receipt of income from the 
permanent school fund, pay the same to the state treasurer, and 
same shall become a part of the consolidated school fund herein- 
after provided for. 

Sec. 1351. Compensation. Said trustees shall not re- 
ceive compensation for their services, but shall be paid their 
necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties. 

Sec. 1352. Huntington fund. The state shall, as herein 
provided, pay to the trustees of the permanent school fund two 
hundred eleven thousand and one hundred thirty-one dollars 
and forty-six cents of the Huntington fund, and the same shall 
be added to the permanent school fund. The state treasurer 
shall issue to said trustees a certificate of the registered loan of 
the state for such amount which shall be redeemable at the treas- 
urer's office on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and twenty- 
five, and on which the interest shall be six per cent per annum and 
payable annually on the first day of July. Such interest shall be 
used in the same manner as other income from the permanent 
school fund. 

Sec. 1353. School fund of 1825. The state shall, as 
herein provided, pay to the trustees of the permanent school fund 
two hundred thirty-four thousand and nine hundred dollars and 
forty-four cents of the school fund of eighteen hundred and 
twenty-five, and the same shall be added to the permanent school 
fund. The state teasurer shall issue to said trustees a certificate 
of the registered loan of the state for such amount which shall be 
redeemable at the treasurer's office on the first day of July, nine- 
teen hundred and twenty-five, and on which the interest shall 

*See Sec. 4013. 

51 



be four per cent per annum and payable annually on the first day 
of July. S,uch interest shall be used in the same manner as other 
income from the permanent school fund. 

Sec. 1354. United States deposit money. All United 
States deposit money held in the state treasury and all that comes 
into such treasury shall be held in the treasury as a part of the 
permanent school fund. 

Sec. 1355. Loan to towns ; rate of interest ; collection. 
United States deposit money apportioned and loaned to a town 
prior to December fifteenth, nineteen hundred and six, may, sub- 
ject to partial payment as provided in section one thousand three 
hundred and forty-three, be loaned annually by the trustees of 
public money to such town, with interest at five per cent per 
annum, until such time as said trustees see fit to collect the same, 
when it shall be paid immediately to the state. 

Sec. 1356. Income. The income from the United States 
deposit money loaned as provided in the preceding section, shall 
annually, on or before the tenth day of June, until such loan is 
paid, be paid by the trustees of public money to the state treas- 
urer, and such income shall be used in the same manner as other 
income from the permanent school fund. 

Sec. 1357. Forfeiture for failure to pay over income. 

If said trustees of public money fail to pay the income as pro- 
vided in the preceding section, the portion of the consolidated 
school fund otherwise payable to such town shall be forfeited to 
the state; and thereafter, until such town pays all sums in arrears 
with interest thereon at six per cent per annum, it shall forfeit 
each year its portion of the consolidated school fund, and such 
forfeitures shall be added to the principal of the permanent school 
fund. The state treasurer shall, on or before the tenth day of 
July, notify the state board of education of such forfeitures ; and 
said board shall forthwith order the auditor of accounts to draw 
an order in favor of said trustees of the permanent school fund 
for an amount equal to such town's portion of the consolidated 
school fund, and shall annually, until said board is notified that 
the town has made up its arrears as herein provided, order said 
auditor to draw an order in favor of said trustees of the permanent 
school fund for an amount equal to such town's portion of the 
consolidated school fund otherwise payable that year. Such 
orders shall be paid out of the consolidated school fund. If a 
town pays its arrears as herein provided, said treasurer shall so 
notify said board of education, and thereafter such town shall be 
entitled to its portion of the consolidated school fund. 

Sec. 1358. Liability of trustees. The trustees of the 
permanent school fund shall be accountable for such part of the 
United States deposit money as is held by them, when required 
by the state treasurer on requisition of the United States. 

52 



Sec. 1359. Reports. Said trustees shall present to the 
general assembly, on the first day of each biennial session, a report 
of their official acts. Such report shall show, as of the thirtieth 
day of June preceding, the amount and condition of the perma- 
nent school fund and the securities in which it is invested. 

Sec. 1360. Audit of trustees' account; report. The 
auditor of accounts and bank commissioner shall annually, on 
or before the thirtieth day of June, audit the accounts of the 
trustees of the permdinent school fund and the accounts of the 
state treasurer in connection with such fund, examine the se- 
curities on hand and certify to the correctness of their transac- 
tions and the condition of such fund, and such certificates shall be 
included in the report of said trustees and in the report of the 
state treasurer. 

Sec. 1361. Powers to receive, hold and invest gifts, 
bequests, etc. The trustees of the permanent school fund are 
empowered and directed to receive, hold and invest any fund 
that may be given to them by deed of gift, bequest or otherwise 
for the following purposes : 

I. For general educational purposes; 

II. For special purposes of educational support through 
scholarships; 

III. For the physical care or welfare of children or school 
pupils described in such bequest or deed of gift. 

Such fund may be for the benefit of : 

A. Some particular class or classes of children or pupils; 

B. The state at large, or for given localities selected in the 
deed of gift or bequest or to be thereafter selected. 

Sec. 1362. How held. Such funds shall be received, in- 
vested and administered in accordance with the terms of the gift 
or bequest, and if such terms do not specify the manner of in- 
vesting such fund, the funds shall be invested subject to the pro- 
visions relating to investing the permanent school fund. The 
securities and income arising from such gifts and bequests shall 
be held by the state treasurer in the manner that the securities 
and income of the permanent school fund are held by him. 

Sec. 1363. To be approved by board of education. 
Said trustees shall not receive in trust any fund until the state 
board of education certifies to them that in its judgment the use 
specified for such gift is for the public interest. 

Sec. 1364. Transfer funds. Said trustees shall, from time 
to time, transfer portions of such fund or the income thereof, to the 
state board of education to be expended by it ; or said trustees may 
make such transfers to persons certified to them by said board. 

Sec. 1365. General supervision by board of education. 
The state board of education shall supervise the use of funds so 
given or bequeathed. In the event of a breach of trust in the use 
of such gifts or bequests, said board shall take the necessary steps 

53 



to have the terms of the gift or bequest complied with. Said 
board shall, in the exercise of its duties of supervision, have power 
to investigate the use of such funds and for that purpose may re- 
quire the production of accounts, books and vouchers showing 
the disbursement thereof. 



State School Tax. 

Sec. 1366. Rate. A tax of ten cents on the dollar is 
hereby annually assessed upon the grand list, exclusive of unor- 
ganized towns and gores, for the support of public schools. 

Sec. 1367. Apportionment; notice. The state treais- 
urer shall appQji-tion such tax to the several towns according to 
their respective grand lists as shown by the list prepared annually 
by the commissioner of taxes from the abstracts of the grand lists 
of such towns, and shall annually, on or before the first day of 
September, make out and transmit to each town treasurer a no- 
tice of the amount so apportioned such town and that the same 
must be paid into the state treasury on or before the first day of 
October following. 

Sec. 1368. Duties of town treasurer and selectmen. 
The treasurer shall, upon receipt of such notice, transmit the 
same to the selectmen or mayor, who shall draw an order on the 
town or city treasurer for the amount of such tax, and said treas- 
urer shall pay the same into the state treasury out of any money 
belonging to the town or city. If the funds in the hands of said 
treasurer are not sufficient to pay such amount, the selectmen or 
mayor shall borrow the necessary amount upon orders. 

Consolidated School Fund. 

Sec. 1369. How constituted. The income of the per- 
manent school fund, receipts from the state school tax, and 
moneys annually available for educational purposes and the 
moneys covered into the state treasury on account of taxes and 
fees received for the licensing of peddlers, auctioneers, circuses 
and menageries shall constitute the consolidated school fund. 

Sec. 1370. Same; apportionment. Such consolidated 
school fund shall be apportioned annually by the state board of 
education for the purposes specified in the following section; 
provided, however, if the amount specified for any particular 
purpose is more than is required therefor, the excess shall be 
added to the fund apportioned for that year for the purpose of 
equalizing educational opportunities and advantages; and pro- 
vided further that if the amount so specified is less than is re- 
■quired therefor, said board may, in its discretion, use for that pur- 
pose such portion of such equalizing fund as may be necessary. 

54 



Sec. 1371. Same; detail. Such -consolidated school fund 
shall, subject to the provisions of the preceding section and under 
regulations which shall be made by said board, be apportioned 
as follows : 

I. For general administration and office purposes of the 
state board of education, including the per diem and expenses of 
members, clerical assistance and salaries and expenses of the 
executive officers of the board, twenty-four thousand dollars; 

II. For the salaries and expenses of superintendents, one 
hundred and ten thousand dollars; 

III. For the training of teachers, one hundred thousand 
dollars, provided that if the amount herein specified is more than 
is required in any year therefor the excess shall be added to the 
fund apportioned for this purpose for the following year. 

IV. For summer schools, educational meetings and like 
supplementary activities, twenty-five hundred dollars; 

V. For the transportation and board of pupils, one hundred 
thousand dollars; 

VI. For the partial payment of the salaries of teachers of 
rural schools, as provided by section one thousand two hundred 
and eight, one hundred and ten thousand dollars; 

VII. For advanced instruction under sections one thousand 
two hundred and eighty-eight and one thousand three hundred 
and seventy-four, sixty-five thousand dollars; 

VIII. For junior and senior high schools under chapter 
sixty-one, ten thousand dollars; 

IX. Repealed. 

X. For vocational courses as provided by section one 
thousand two hundred and seventy-eight, five thousand dollars; 

XI. For agricultural education under an act of Congress, 
entitled "An act to provide for the promotion of vocational edu- 
cation; to provide for cooperation with the states in the promo- 
tion of such education in agriculture and the trades and indus- 
tries; to provide for cooperation with the states in the preparation 
of teachers of vocational subjects; and to appropriate moneys 
and regulate its expenditure," approved February twenty-third, 
nineteen hundred and seventeen, five thousand dollars; 

XII. For domestic science and trade education under an 
act of Congress, entitled "An act to provide for the promotion of 
vocational education; to provide for cooperation with the states 
in the promotion of such education in agriculture and the trades 
and industries; to provide for cooperation with the states in the 
preparation of teachers of vocational subjects; and to appropriate 
moneys and regulate its expenditure, "approved February twenty- 
third, nineteen hundred and seventeen, five thousand dollars; 

XIII. For boys' and girls' agricultural and industrial ex- 
positions, fifteen hundred dollars; 

55 



XIV. The balance of such fund for the purpose of aiding 
elementary schools m rural communities and for the purpose of 
equalizing educational opportunities and advantages. 

Sec. 1372. Payment. The auditor of accounts shall 
draw orders to such persons and for such amounts as said board 
shall direct, and such orders shall be drawn on such fund and 
shall not exceed during any school year the amount of such fund 
for that year. 

Sec. 1373. Excess payment, how recovered. If it be- 
comes evident to the auditor of accounts or the state board of 
education that, in the apportionment or distribution of state aid 
for any school year, a district has received more than such dis- 
trict was legally entitled to receive, the amount of such excess 
shall be deducted from such district's apportionment in the fol- 
lowing school year and be covered into'and become a part of the 
permanent school fund. 

No. 57, Acts of 1921. Equipment for school lunches. 
Section 1. The state board of education is hereby authorized 
to reimburse towns, incorporated school districts and cities to 
an amount not to exceed fifty per cent of the amount expended by 
a town, incorporated school district or city in installing equip- 
ment and facilities for furnishing lunches to the pupils of public 
schools when so ordered by a vote of the school directors. The 
school directors may make such rules and regulations as are 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this act. 

Sec. 2. The auditor of accounts shall issue his warrant in 
favor of any town, incorporated school district or city upon pres- 
entation of proper vouchers, to reimburse it for any expense 
incurred by it under the provisions of this act. 



PART VI. 
INCORPORATED SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 



CHAPTER 70. 

INCORPORATED SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 

Application of Laws. 

Sec. 1374. General provisions. The provisions of this 
title relating to the administration and maintenance of public 
schools, school meetings and voting therein, to grand Hsts, to 
the raising and expending of school moneys, to moneys appor- 

56 



tioned by the state board of education, to sharing in other state 
aid, to the election, appointment, powers, duties and liabihties 
of school officers, to elementary and higher instruction, to trans- 
portation, board and attendance of pupils, to truancy and truancy 
officers, to furnishing of textbooks and appliances, to medical in- 
spectors and to all other matters pertaining to schools in a town 
district, shall, unless other ise provided, and if not inconsistent 
with the rights granted by their charters, apply to schools main- 
tained, similar school officers and all matters pertaining to schools 
in corporated school districts. 

Officers. 

Sec. 1375. Election; term of office; notice to town 
clerk; vacancy. An incorporated school district shall also, 
at each annual meeting, elect from among the legal voters of such 
district a moderator, collector, treasurer, one or three auditors 
and may elect a clerk. All school officers shall enter upon their 
duties on the first day of July following their election or appoint- 
ment, and said clerk shall, within ten days after his election or 
appointment, give notice thereof to the town clerk. A vacancy 
occurring in the office of clerk of an incorporated school district 
caused by death, resignation or otherwise shall be filled by the 
prudential committee within ten days after such vacancy occurs. 

Sec. 1376. Duties of officers; bonds. The powers, du- 
ties and liabilities of the collector, treasurer, auditors, prudential 
committee and clerk shall be like those of a town collector, treas- 
urer, auditors, and board of school directors and clerk of same, 
respectively. Said collector or treasurer shall, before entering 
upon his duties, give a bond to the district conditioned for the 
faithful performance of his duties, in such sum as may be required; 
and, if a collector or treasurer neglects for ten days to give a bond 
as required, his office shall be vacant. 

Sec. 1377. Moderator. The moderator shall preside 
at district meetings; and, in his absence, a moderator pro tem- 
pore shall be chosen to preside at such meetings. 

Sec. 1378. Collector of taxes. Said district may elect 
the collector of town taxes, although not an inhabitant of the 
district, to be collector of such district, if he will accept the office 
in writing, and such acceptance shall be recorded by said clerk. 

Sec. 1379. Statistical information. The prudential 
committee shall cause the principals of the schools in the district 
to return to the commissioner of education, on or before the tenth 
day of July, annually, answers to the statistical inquiries which 
may be addressed to them by the commissioner of education. 

Sec. 1380. Vacancies. When a vacancy occurs in the 
office of a district officer elected by the district, the district shall 
fill the vacancy at a special meeting. 

57 



Sec. 1381. Books and papers turned over to succes- 
sor; penalty. When a district office becomes vacant by ex- 
piration of the term of office of the incumbent or otherwise, and a 
successor is elected or appointed, said successor shall, on demand, 
be entitled to receive the books and papers of such office from the 
last incumbent or anyone having the same in his possession. A 
person having such books or papers in his possession who refuses 
for ten days, after demand, to surrender the same to said suc- 
cessor shall be fined ten dollars. 

Meetings. 

Sec. 1382. Changing time of annual meeting. A 

district may, if it so votes at its annual meeting on the first Tues- 
day in March, fix a different date for holding its annual meetings, 
provided such date is not earlier than May first nor later than 
June thirtieth, and a notice of the proposed change shall be in- 
serted in the warning of the annual meeting upon the written re- 
quest of ten legal voters of the district. Special meetings shall 
be warned on the application of three voters of the district. 

Sec. 1383. Warnings. School meetings shall be warned 
by the clerk, or, in case of his death, absence or inability to act, 
by the prudential committee, by posting a notice thereof, speci- 
fying the time, place and business of the meeting, in two public 
places in the district, at least seven days before the time therein 
specified, and warnings shall be recorded before being posted. 

Sec. 1384. Same; penalty. If a person whose duty it 
is to warn a school meeting neglects to do so for ten days, after 
application made as hereinbefore provided, he shall forfeit to the 
district twenty dollars for each ten days' neglect, to be recovered 
in an action of tort, on this statute. 

Sec. 1385. Eligibility of voters. The moderator, clerk 
and members of the prudential committee shall decide all ques- 
tions as to the eligibility of a person to vote in a school meeting. 

Sec. 1386. Records; certified copies; penalty. Said 
clerk shall keep a record of the votes and proceedings of the school 
district meetings and give certified copies thereof when required. 
A clerk who neglects to perform this duty shall forfeit twenty 
dollars to the district, to be recovered in an action of tort, on this 
statute. 

Taxes. 

Sec. 1387. Assessment and collection. The prudential 
committee shall assess a tax for the amount voted to be raised 
by the district and make out a rate bill for the same. A justice 
of the county in which such district is situated, shall, on appli- 
cation, make out a warrant directed to the district collector, au- 
thorizing and requiring him to levy and collect such tax within 

68 



the time limited in such warrant and pay the same to the district 
treasurer. Said committee shall have the same authority to en- 
force collection and payment of such tax as selectmen have in 
enforcing collection and payment of town taxes. 

Sec. 1388. Collector's duties; penalty. A district col- 
lector shall, on the written request of one of the prudential com- 
mittee, pay to the district treasurer moneys belonging to the dis- 
trict collected by him to that time, and submit his tax book and 
list to said treasurer for inspection and computation; and a col- 
lector who neglects so to do for ten days after receiving such re- 
quest shall forfeit to the district one hundred dollars to be re- 
covered in an action of tort, on this statute, and his office shall be 
vacant. 

Sec. 1389. Discount. A district may, at the time of 
voting a tax, direct the collector to deduct a per cent fixed by the 
vote, from the tax of a person paying before a day fixed. 

Sec. 1390. Duties of collector. The collector of a tax 
from which a deduction may be made as provided in the pre- 
ceding section, shall appoint a day within the time limited, at a 
place within the district, when and where he will receive such tax, 
and shall post a notice thereof in three public places in the district 
and publish the same in each newspaper printed in the district, 
at least ten days before the time appointed, and shall attend at 
the time and place appointed to receive payment of such tax. 

Sec. 1391. Abatement of taxes. The officers of the 
district, except the collector, shall be a board for the abatement 
of district taxes, and said board shall have the same power which 
the board for the abatement of town taxes has in the abatement 
of town taxes. The prudential committee, on request of the col- 
lector, shall call a meeting of said board in the month of February 
in each year, by posting a notice thereof in three public places in 
such district at least five days before such meeting. 

Sec. 1392. Execution; assessment of special tax. 
When a demand is made upon a district for the payment of an 
execution issued against it and the district has no available funds 
to pay the same, the prudential committee shall forthwith assess 
and have collected a tax sufficient to pay such execution and the 
charges and twelve per cent interest, in the same manner as the 
tax voted by the district is assessed and collected. 

' Change of Boundaries. 

Sec. 1393. Procedure. If it appears to the prudential 
committee of an incorporated school district that the boundaries 
of such district should be changed by including new territory 
within the town in which such district is located, or by excluding 
territory that is in such district, they may insert an article, fully 
describing the proposed change, in the warning for a regular or 
special meeting of such district. 

59 



Sec. 1394. Same. If a majority of the voters at such 
meeting vote to make the proposed change in the boundaries of 
such district, said prudential committee shall notify the selectmen 
of the town in which such district is located of the change so 
voted to be made; whereupon said selectmen shall duly warn a 
meeting of the town, exclusive of such incorporated district, 
setting forth in the warning the vote of such district and the pro- 
posed change in its boundaries; and, if a majority of the voters at 
such town meeting vote to make the change, as voted by such 
district, such vote, together with all the proceedings regarding 
such change of boundaries, of both the town and district, shall be 
recorded in the town clerk's office, whereupon such change of 
boundaries shall be established. 

Merger of Town and Incorporated School Districts. 

Sec. 1395. Procedure. An incorporated school district 
may, by a majority vote of the legal voters present and voting 
at any meeting legally warned, surrender its charter as a corpora- 
tion for the maintenance of public schools, or such part of its 
charter as pertains to the maintenance of public schools. Such 
surrender shall take effect not later than July first or December 
first following the vote so taken, and such school corporation shall 
cease to exist, and it shall become thereby a part of the town 
school district. 

Sec. 1396. Same. A town district may, by a majority 
vote of the legal voters present and voting at any meeting legally 
warned, become a part of an incorporated district, provided the 
incorporated district, at a meeting legally warned, votes to accept 
such merger. Such merger shall take effect April first or Septem- 
ber first following the vote so taken. When such a merger has 
occurred, the incorporated district shall be considered a town dis- 
trict in all respects pertaining to the maintenance and administra- 
tion of its public schools. 

Sec. 1397. Effect of merger. In case of a union of an 
incorporated district and a town district under either of the two 
preceding sections, each district shall settle its own business 
affairs and pay all its indebtedness, except for repairs and new 
buildings, shall deposit its records with the town clerk, and shall 
no longer exist except for the settlement of its own pecuniary 
affairs. 



60 



PART VIII. 
STATE SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER 72. 

STATE SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE. 

Sec. 1403. How constituted; purpose. The state 
school of agriculture at Randolph (and the Theodore N. Vail 
agricultural school and farms at Lyndon*) shall constitute the 
special agricultural schools of the state for the purpose of devel- 
oping the agricultural resources of the state through practical 
instruction in agriculture, including tillage, crop raising, gar- 
dening, orcharding, forestry, dairying, stock raising, farm man- 
agement, marketing and the allied subjects of domestic science 
and the manual arts, and especially through vocational instruc- 
tion incidental to agricultural training. 

Sec. 1404. State board of education to manage 
schools, etc. The state board of education shall have the 
management and control of such schools and farms and shall have 
authority to appoint and remove, at its pleasure, superintendents, 
principals, teachers, experts and chemists and shall employ all 
necessary assistants, clerks and laborers and shall fix the wages 
of all persons so appointed or employed. Said board shall make 
regulations for the management of such schools and farms not 
inconsistent with law and prescribe the courses of study and 
methods of instruction and experiment to be followed in such 
schools and on such farms and shall formulate certificates to be 
conferred at graduation from such schools. Said board shall 
carry on the lands and care for the buildings belonging to such 
schools and farms and may sell the products of the same, and all 
moneys received therefor and all moneys received from other 
sources in connection vvith such schools and farms shall be covered 
into the state treasury by said board. 

Sec. 1405. Donations and bequests. Said board is 
authorized to receive in the name of the state donations and be- 
quests which may be given for the equipment and maintenance 
of such schools and farms and shall cover the same into the state 
treasury subject to the restrictions and limitations of such dona- 
tions and bequests. 

Sec. 1406. State treasurer's duties. All moneys cov- 
ered into the state treasury under the provisions of this chapter 
shall be held by the state treasurer to the use of such schools and 
farms, and said treasurer shall receive all moneys appropriated 
by act of Congress extending aid to such schools and farms or like 

♦Theodore N. Vail School discontinued in 1920 

61 



schools. The auditor of accounts is hereby authorized to draw 
orders in favor of the state board of education for the amount of 
such moneys or the income and profit thereof, according to the 
provisions of this chapter and according to the provisions of such 
donations and bequests and according to provisions of acts of 
Congress. 

Sec. 1407. Reports. Said board shall, in each even year, 
make a report to the governor of the work done during the pre- 
ceding two years, the condition of such schools and farms and 
their needs, with a detailed statement of the financial conditions 
of such schools, the moneys received and from what sources, and 
the moneys expended and for what purposes. Such report shall 
be printed with the report of the commissioner of agriculture. 

Sec. 1408. Manner of drawing appropriations. The 
auditor of accounts is hereby directed to draw orders, not exceed- 
ing the several amounts annually available for the use of such 
schools, in favor of the state board of education, upon the requisi- 
tion of the superintendent of each institution respectively when 
approved by three members of said board. 



PART IX. 
MENTALLY DEFECTIVE PERSONS. 

Chapter 73. — Instruction of mentally defective persons. 
Chapter 74. — Vermont state school for feeble-minded children. 



CHAPTER 73. 

INSTRUCTION OF MENTALLY DEFECTIVE PERSONS. 

Commissioner. 

Sec. 1409. Governor to be commissioner. The gov- 
ernor, by virtue of his office, shall be commissioner of the deaf, 
dumb, blind, idiotic, feeble-minded or epileptic children of indi- 
gent parents, and, as such commissioner, shall constitute the 
board for their instruction. 

Sec. 1410. Report; compensation. The governor shall 
report biennially to the general assembly his doings under this 
chapter, with an account of the expenditures, and shall receive 
fifty dollars annually for his services as such commissioner. . 

Sec. 1411. Institutions for instruction. The bene- 
ficiaries specified in this chapter shall be instructed in the foUow- 

62 



ing institutions : the deaf and dumb at the American Asylum for 
the education of the deaf and dumb at Hartford, Connecticut, 
the Clark School for the deaf at Northampton, Massachusetts, 
the Mystic Oral School at Mystic, Connecticut, or the Austine 
Institution at Brattleboro, Vermont; the blind at the New Eng- 
land Institute for the instruction of the blind at Boston, Massa- 
chusetts; and the idiotic or feeble-minded children at the Massa- 
chusetts School for the Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth at 
Boston, or at such other institutions of like nature as the gov- 
ernor selects. 

Sec. 1412. Duties of governor. The governor may 
provide for the instruction of blind, deaf and dumb children over 
fourteen years of age, and of blind adults, in such schools without 
the state as he may designate, but such schools shall be selected 
with a view to furnishing instruction in such trades or lines of 
work as will be best calculated to enable such persons to become 
self-supporting. 

Sec. 1413. Listers' duties. The board of listers in a 
town shall ascertain and certify to the county clerk, on or before 
the first day of May, annually, the number of deaf and dumb 
persons and the number of blind and epileptic persons in such 
town, their ages, conditions and circumstances, and the ability of 
their parents to educate them, the names of all idiotic or feeble- 
minded children between the ages of five and fourteen years re- 
siding in such town and the pecuniary abihty and circumstances 
of their parents or the persons bound to support them, and 
whether, in the opinion of said board, the persons named are 
proper subjects for the charity of the state, and whether they and 
their parents or guardians are willing that they should become 
beneficiaries of any of the institutions provided for the instruc- 
tion of such persons. 

Sec. 1414. County clerks to make returns. A county 
clerk shall annually, before the first day of June, make return to 
the governor of the information he receives from the several 
boards of listers in his county. 

Sec. 1415. Duties of governor. The governor may desig- 
nate beneficiaries, may direct the auditor of accounts to draw 
orders for any part of the funds available for the purposes of 
this chapter, may superintend and direct all concerns relating to 
the education of the deaf, dumb, blind, idiotic, feeble-minded or 
epileptic children, inhabitants of the state, and may allow all 
or any portion of the expense of their conveyance to and from and 
support in the institutions in which they are instructed, for such 
time as he deems proper; and he may take bonds to indemnify the 
state against the expenses which accrue in consequence of the 
sickness, clothing or transportation of a beneficiary. 

Sec. 1416. Selectmen to give bond. The selectmen of 
the several towns may execute in their official capacity in behalf 

63 



of their respective towns, without a previous vote, the bond which 
may be required to be given by the town to indemnify the state 
against expenses which may accrue in consequence of the sickness, 
clothing or transportation of the deaf, dumb, blind, idiotic, feeble- 
minded or epileptic beneficiaries from such town. 

Sec. 1417. Town to defray expense of 'transportation; 
when. When a person is designated a beneficiary, the town in 
which he resides shall defray the expenses of his conveyance to 
and from the institution in which he is to be instructed, if, in 
the opinion of the selectmen, his parent or guardian is not able 
to pay the same. 

Sec. 1418. Instruction within state. The governor 
may designate one or more blind or deaf and dumb beneficiaries, 
under the provisions of this chapter, to be educated within this 
state, when, in his judgment, adequate advantages exist for proper 
instruction and the public good will be subserved thereby. 

Sec. 1419. Same. The governor shall dWow for the bene- 
fit of such a person, from the general funds available to carry out 
the provisions of this chapter, a sum equal to the amount paid 
for a single beneficiary at any of the institutions mentioned in 
the eighth preceding section; and, upon receiving a certificate 
from the selectmen of the town in which such person resides that 
a proper course of study has been pursued, he may direct the 
auditor of accounts to draw orders in quarterly installments in 
favor of the person whom he shall designate for the payment of 
such sum. 

Sec. 1420. Compulsory attendance. A deaf or blind 
child who is within the age of a legal pupil and who is designated 
under the provisions of this chapter by the governor to an in- 
stitution for the education of the deaf and blind in this state, 
shall attend such designated institution during its regular sessions 
for the period for which said child is designated unless said child 
is mentally or physically unable so to attend or has already ac- 
quired knowledge of the studies required to be taught in the 
elementary school course or is otherwise being furnished with the 
same education, provided that said child shall not be required 
to attend more than forty weeks in any school year. 

Sec. 1421. Penalty. A person having control of a child 
who neglects or refuses to permit said child to receive instruction 
as provided in the preceding section, shall be fined not more than 
twenty-five dollars nor less than five dollars. Justices, municipal 
and city courts, shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the county 
court of offenses arising under this section, and the provisions of 
section one thousand two hundred and fifty-eight, relating to 
complaint and prosecution shall apply to this section. 

Sec. 1422. Powers of Governor. Twenty-five hundred 
dollars of the moneys "annually available for the benefit of the 
beneficiaries named in this chapter may be expended by the 

64 



governor in his discretion, for the care, education and training of 
such beneficiaries after they have been discharged from the in- 
stitutions in which they have been kept as subjects of state char- 
ity. The governor may make contracts with any person, asso- 
ciation or corporation for carrying out the provisions of this sec- 
tion, and may direct the auditor of accounts to draw orders for 
any part of the moneys available for the purposes of this section. 

Austine Institution. 

Sec. 1423. Conditional appropriation. The sum of 

fifty thousand dollars appropriated to the Austine Institution 
by virtue of sectio© one of number seventy-four of the acts of 
nineteen hundred and ten is conditioned upon such corporation 
binding itself by a contract to the satisfaction of the governor 
that it will, at all times, receive, instruct and care for, at actual 
cost, all beneficiaries which the governor may designate to be 
received by such institution under the provisions of this chapter; 
and such appropriation is further conditioned that if such in- 
stitution shall cease to exist, the real and personal estate of such 
corporation shall be held as security to the state for the amount 
of such appropriation and may be sold under the direction of the 
general assembly for the purpose of reimbursing the state for the 
amount of such appropriation, and the real estate of such cor- 
poration shall not be sold by the trustees thereof without the 
consent of the general assembly. 

CHAPTER 74. 

VERMONT STATE SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED 
CHILDREN. 

Sec. 1424. Creation and purpose. The Vermont state 
school for feeble-minded children is created and established for 
the care, training and education of idiotic and feeble-minded 
children. 

Director of State Institutions. 

Sec. 1425. General duties. The director of state in- 
stitutions shall have the general care, control and management 
of such school and shall faithfully carry out its purposes and 
objects. Said director shall visit such school at least once each 
month. 

Sec. 1426. Same. Said director shall make necessary 
rules and regulations for the government of such school and its 
inmates, not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, 
and do all necessary acts within his power to provide for the 
proper care, training and education of those committed to such 

65 



school. Said director shall employ and remove at his pleasure 
teachers, clerks, servants and employees and shall fix their pay.* 
Said director shall, with such teachers, prescribe and adopt courses 
of instruction for the inmates of such school and prescribe and 
adopt means and methods for the discipline and training of such 
inmates, and see that undue force is not used in enforcing obedi- 
ence thereto. Said director may cause such inmates to perform 
such amount of manual labor as he deems to be conducive to the 
physical, mental and moral improvement of such inmates. 

Sec. 1427. Employment of experts. Said director 
may employ an expert physician or physicians of repute and pro- 
fessional skill and of special fitness in the treatment of such men- 
tally defective persons as may be committed to such school, to 
prescribe for and treat them professionally. Said director shall 
fix the compensation to be paid such physicians, and the auditor 
of accounts is hereby authorized to draw an order to pay bills 
therefor as said director shall present, when certified to by said 
director.* 

Sec. 1428. Power to receive gifts, etc. Said director 
is empowered to receive by gift, bequest or otherwise, any money 
or real or personal estate, made for the use and benefit of such 
school, and shall invest such moneys so received in safe interest 
bearing securities and in the corporate name of such school. 

Commitments. 

Sec. 1429. Commitments from industrial school. An 

inmate of the Vermont industrial school who shall be adjudged by 
the director of state institutions a proper subject to be committed 
to such school, shall be committed therein for the remainder of 
his term of commitment to such industrial school upon the cer- 
tificate of said director, accompanied by the certificates of two 
physicians who are duly licensed practitioners in this state, stat- 
ing that such child is a suitable and proper subject for com- 
mitment to such school. 

Sec. 1430. Commitments. An indigent child of this 
state, between five and twenty-one years of age, who may be 
considered a proper subject within the purview of this chapter 
and who has no kinsmen liable and able to provide for and educate 
him, may be received into such school at the expense of the state 
under the provisions of this chapter. Any child may be received 
into such school upon payment of such sum and upon such terms 
for his care, training, education and maintenance as said director 
shall determine. 

Sec. 1431. Probate court; procedure. The parent or 
guardian of a child mentioned in the preceding section, a member 
or the secretary of the board of charities and probation or the 
selectmen of the town in which such a child resides, or the select- 

*See Sec. 660 

66 



men of a town in which such a child resides although not indigent 
but considered a proper subject to be committed to such school, 
may make application to the judge of the probate court for the 
district in which such child resides, for an order of commitment 
of such child to such school; and thereupon such judge shall ap- 
point a day for hearing and give ten days' notice thereof to the 
state's attorney and, if such application is made by said select- 
men or by a member or the secretary of the board of charities 
and probation, give like notice to such parent or guardian if his 
domicile is known and, if unknown, to the person having such 
child in charge. At such hearing, the judge may hear any testi- 
mony he may deem proper to be submitted to him, and if, after 
hearing, he is of the opinion that such child ought to be com- 
mitted to such school and if certificates duly sworn to by two 
physicians who are duly licensed practitioners in this state, stat- 
ing that such child is a suitable and proper subject for commit- 
ment to such school, are filed with said judge, he shall issue an 
order of commitment and attach to such order a certified copy, 
under his ofl&cial seal, of such certificates; and thereupon said 
child shall be committed to such school, provided there is room 
in same for such child. , At such hearing, said judge shall deter- 
mine whether such child has property or kinsmen able and liable 
to provide for his support, and, if he finds that there is such prop- 
erty or kinsmen, he shall, in his order of commitment, state his 
findings in respect thereto. The property and kinsmen of such 
child shall be subject to the support or contribution towards the 
support of such child in such school in the same manner that 
property and kinsmen are liable under the provisions of chapter 
one hundred and eighty-five. The state's attorney and auditor 
of accounts shall havp the same powers and duties in respect to 
hearings, property and kinsmen under this section as they have 
in respect to persons and property under such chapter.* 

Sec. 1432. Appeal; habeas corpus. An order of com- 
mitment under this chapter shall be subject to appeal in the same 
manner, by the same persons and to the same extent that the 
decrees of probate court appointing guardians over persons 
alleged to be insane are subject to appeal; and a commitment 
under this chapter shall not bar habeas corpus proceedings, but 
the court upon habeas corpus proceedings may confirm the order 
of commitment whenever justice requires. 

Sec. 1433. Order of admission. The following order 
shall be observed in the admission of children to such school under 
the provisions of this chapter : 

I. Children committed from the Vermont industrial school; 

II. Children committed by the probate court who have no 
property or kinsmen liable and able to provide for and educate 
them ; 

♦See Sec. 660 

67 



III. Children committed by the probate court who have 
property or kinsmen liable and able to provide for and educate 
them; and 

IV. Children who may be received upon the payment of 
such sums and upon such terms as said director shall determine. 

Discharge. 

Sec. 1434. By whom and how; effect. An inmate of 
such school may be discharged therefrom by the director of state 
institutions, or by a superior judge after proper hearing and upon 
an application in writing of any person considered by said judge 
legally interested, whenever a further detention in such school is 
deemed unnecessary. An inmate so discharged who was at the 
time of commitment to such school under sentence to such in- 
dustrial school, the period of whose sentence had not then ex- 
pired, shall be remanded to such industrial school and thereafter 
be subject to the terms of his original sentence. 



68 



INDEX 



Advanced Instruction, 

Provisions as to, 1275-1291, 1371 

Agricultural and Industrial Ex- 
positions, (XIII) 1371 

Agriculture, State Schools of, 

1403-1408 

Building Committee, 1330-b 
Commissioner of Education, 

Agricultural textbook prescribed 
by, 1238 

Appeals as to school accommoda- 
tions, 1245, 1273 

Employment; term, 1175 

Lanterns and slides, providing, 
1180 

Registers prescribed and furnished 
by, 1306, 1307 

Reports, 1175 

Salary, 1175 

State supervisors, 1181, 1182 

Supplementary agricultural reader, 
1238 

Testing sight and hearing of 
pupUs; duties, 1318 

Courses, 

Agricultme, 1277, 1278, 1298-1302, 

1304, 1305, 1403 
Apportionment for vocational, 

(X-XII) 1371 
Elementary and rural schools, 

1237-1241 
High schools other than junior and 

senior, 1277, 1278 
Junior and senior high schools, 

1294, 1296, 1298 
Rural schools, 1209, 1237 
Vocational, 1277, 1278, 1298-1302, 

1304, 1305, 1371, 1403 

Definitions, 

Between, 1244 

Elementary schools, 1235 

High schools, 1276 

Junior and senior high schools, 1292 

Kindergarten, 1234 

Legal pupils, 1243 

Legal schools, 1340 

Medical inspectors, 1317 



Definitions, Con. 
Public schools, 1233 
Residence of pupils, 1245 
Rural schools, 1209 
School year, 1242 
Secondary schools, 1235 
Teachers, as to retirement fvmd, 
1227 

Directors, Board of. 

Appointment and removal of super- 
intendents, 1176 
Auditing accoimts of, 1196 
Claims allowed, 1192 
Clerk, 1197-1199 
Designation of schools for pupils to 

attend, 1250 
Election and general duties, 1187, 

1189-1196 
General duties, 1192 
Grammar school lands, 1291 
Instruction outside district, 1247, 

1275, 1280, 1284, 1297 
Kindergartens established by, 1234 
Medical inspectors appointed by, 

1313 
Music, physical culture and draw- 
ing, instruction in, 1239 
Nonattendance of pupUs excused, 

1255-1257 
Oath, 1191 

Orders drawn by, 1192, 1193 
Orders, payment of; action; interest, 

1333 
Organization, 1191 
Pay, 1193 

Reports, 1195, 1196 
Schoolhouses provided by, 1325 
Teachers, employment of; con- 
tract, 1206-1211 
Terms and hours fixed by, 1242 
Textbooks, appUances and suppUes, 

1327, 1329 
Transportation and board of pupils, 

1269-1274 
Truant officer appointed by, 1200 
Unauthorized pajonents by, 1194 
U. S. flags provided by, 1326 
Vacancies filled how, 1190 
Vacancy if accoimt not audited, 
1196 

Education, State Board of. 

Agricultural schools, management 
of, 1172, 1404 



69 



Education, State Board of , Con. 
Appeals as to advanced instruction, 

1275 
Appointment, removal and general 

duties, 1169-1174 
Apportionment for, (I) 1371 
Certificate of, for division of town 

school funds, 1340 
Chairman, 1169 
Classification of secondary schools, 

1292 
Commissioner appointed by, 1175 
Cooperation with federal board of 

vocational education, 1304 
Courses prescribed by, 1237 
, Gifts, bequests, etc., approval and 

control, 1363-1365 
Inspectors, etc., appointed by, 1173 
Land for gardening, etc., 1301 
Money from private sources, (6) 

1172 
Normal schools, duties as to, 1398- 

1402 
Reports, 1174, 1399, 1407 
Superintendents appointed by, 

1176 
Teacher-training courses, 1214-1217 
Teachers, examination and certifica- 
tion of, 1202-1205 
Terms of office, 1169 
Vacancies filled how, 1190 

Educational Meetings, (IV) 1172, 
(IV) 1371 

Evening Schools, 1236 

Feeble-Minded Children, 

State school, 1424-1434 



Incorporated School Districts, 

Advanced instruction, apportion- 
ment for, (VII) 1371, 1374 
AppHcation of laws, 1374 
Apportionment of consolidated 

school fund, etc., 1374 
Bond of treasiu-er and collector; 

vacancy, 1376 
Books and papers turned over to 

successor; penalty, 1381 
Boundaries, change of, 1393, 1394 
Clerk, vacancy in office, 1375 
Collectors of taxes, 1375, 1376, 1378, 

1387-1392 
Division of town funds, 1340-1342 
Elementary and higher instruction, 

1374 
Execution against, 1392 
Medical inspection, 1374 
Meetings; warnings for, 1185, 1380, 

1382-1386, 1393-1396, 1394, 1396 
Merger of town and incorporated 

district, 1395-1397 
Moderator, 1377 
Officers, duties, 1374, 1376 
Officers; election; term, 1374, 1375 
PupUs, transportation, board and 

attendance of, 1374 
Records; copies; penalty, 1386 
Statistical information, 1379 
Taxes, 1374, 1387-1392 
Textbooks and appliances, 1374 
Truancy, 1374 

Vacancies, 1375, 1376, 1380, 1381 
Voters, eUgibility of, 1186, 1188, 

1374, 1385 

Inspectors, 1173 
Legal Holidays, 1213-b 



Fire Drills, 1322-1324 

High Schools, 

Apportionment for junior and 

senior, (VIII) 1371 
Courses other than in junior and 

senior, 1277, 1278 
Defined, 1276, 1286 
Grammar school land funds, 1291 
Junior and senior, 1292-1302 
Liability of district for tuition, 

1282-1287 
QuaUfications of pupils, 1279-1281, 

1284 
State aid, 1288, 1289 
Town district to maintain, or 

fiu-nish higher instruction, 1275, 

1284, 1297 
Transportation of pupils, 1290 



Medical Inspectors, 

Appointment and duties, 1260, 
1313-1317, 1321 

Normal Schools, (V) 1172, (IX) 
1371, 1398-1402 

Penalties, 

Attendance, offences relating to, 
1258, 1266-1268 

Clerk, neglect of duty, 1384, 1386 

Directors allowing unlawful pay- 
ment, 1194 

District clerk neglecting duty, 
1384, 1386 

District collector neglecting duty, 
1388 

District meetings, neglect to warn, 
1384 



70 



Penalties, Con. 

False information as to child's age, 
1249 

False statements as to school 
money ; unlawful distribution, 
1342 

Fire drills, teacher neglecting, 1323 

Incorporated school district officers, 
1381, 1384, 1386, 1388 

Officer failing to pass over books, 
etc., to successor, 1381 

Officials neglecting duty, 1267 

Parent, etc., refusing to give in- 
formation to clerk, 1249 

Public money unlawfully distribut- 
ed, 1342 

School funds distributed unlawfully, 
1342 

Teacher, neglect of duty imder 
truancy law, 1268 

Textbooks, etc., receiving pay for 
recommending, 1329 

Truancy or disobedience, 1258, 1266 

Truant officer neglecting duty, 
1267 

Permanent School Fund, 

Audit, 1360 

Compensation of trustees, 1351 

Composition and use of, 1302, 1347, 

1352-1354, 1373 
Gifts, bequests, etc., 1361-1365 
Liability of trustees, 1358 
Report of trustees, 1359, 1360 
State treasurer's duties as to, 1350, 

1352-1354, 1356-1358 
Trustees, 1347-1353, 1355-1364 
United States deposit money loan- 
ed towns, 1355-1357 

Public Schools, 

Attendance, general provisions, 
1243 1257 

Classification, 1232-1236 

Contagious diseases, etc., closing, 
1242 

Courses, 1237-1241 

Lincoln memorial exercises, 1241 

Memorial Day, exercises concern- 
ing, 1240 

Number and location, 1192, 1232 

Petition for location, 1232 

School year, 1242 

Pupils, 

Age, provisions concerning, 1243, 

1244, 1253-1257 
Attendance, generally, 1243-1257 
Clerk of directors to prepare list of, 

1248 
Clothing, provided with, 1261 



Pupils, Con. 

Compulsory and continuous attend- 
ance, 1254-1257 

Designation of school to attend, 
1250 

DiscipUne, 1263-1265 

Dismissal on account of conduct, 
etc., 1264 

Excuse from attendance, 1251-1257 

Inability to attend, investigation of, 
1260 

Instruction outside district, 1247, 
1275, 1280, 1284, 1297 

List of, 1248-1250 

Medical examination, 1260, 1314- 
1316 

Mentally or physically unfit, 1260 

Non-resident; power of superin- 
tendent and tiruant officer over, 
1246, 1262 

Parent giving false information 
fined, 1249 

Parent prosecuted for nonattend- 
ance, 1258 

Privileges in adjoining towns may 
be demanded, 1247 

Qualifications for advanced in- 
struction, 1279-1281, 1284 

Residence, 1245 

Secret societies, restrictions as to 
joining, 1265 

Sight and hearing, testing of, 1318- 
1321 

Transportation and board, 1269- 
1274, 1290 

Truancy, 1258, 1259, 1262, 1266 

Registers and Returns, 1306-1312 

Rural Schools, 

Apportionment for, (XIV) 1371 
Courses, 1237 
Defined, 1209 

Teachers, provisions as to, 1208, 
1209, (VI) 1371 

School Officers, 

Elected at town meeting, 1185 

School Taxes and Funds, 

Apportionment denied if tax not 
voted, 1332 

Consohdated school fund, 1369- 
1373 

Division of town funds, 1339-1342 

Equahzing advantages, apportion- 
ment for, (XIV) 1371 

Excessive payment by state, re- 
covery, 1373 

Grammar school lands, income of, 
1291 



71 



School Taxes and Funds, Con. 
Grand Ust, 1331 
"Legal school" for purposes of 

division, 1340 
Orders for apportionments, 1372 
Permanent school fund, 1302, 1347- 

1365 (See also Permanent 

School Fund) 
Schoolhouses, tax to build, 1325 
Securities; deeds; leases, 1336-1339 
Selectmen's duties, 1336, 1337, 

1339-1342 
State school tax, 1366-1369 _ 
Tax specifically voted; minimum, 

1332 
Town school fund, 1336-1342 
United States deposit money, 1342- 

1347, 1354-1356, 1358 
Vocational education, for instruc- 
tion in, 1299-1302, 1304, 1305, 

(X-XII) 1371 

School Year, 

Defined, 1242 

Schoolhouses and Property, 

Directors' duties, 1192, 1325 

Flag displayed on premises ; penalty, 

1326 
Grammar school lands, 1291 
Taking land for, 1330 

Summer Schools, (IV) 1172, (IV) 
1371 

Superintendents, 

Appointment; pay;^tenure, 1176, 

1178 
Apportionment for, 1178, (II) 1371 
Attendance of pupils excused by, 

1251-1253 
Clothing,! providing pupUs with, 

1261 
Directors to'appoint, when, 1178 
Disciphne, powers as to, 1263-1265 
Investigation ofjpupils' inability to 

attend, 1260 
Lanterns and slides, duties as to, 

1180 
Neglect of official duty; penalty, 

1267 
Nonresident EpupUs, jurisdiction 

over, 1262 
Power to take pupU to school, 1259 
Regional or state meetings, 1179 
Registers, duties as to, 1307, 1309, 

1310 
Reports, 1177, 1274 
Salaries, 1176, 1178 
Teachers, dismissal of, 1211 

72 



Supermtendents, Con. 
Teachers employment approved by , 

1206 
Textbooks approved by, 1327 

Teachers, 

Certificates from other states, 1204 
Corporal punishment, powers as to, 

1263 
Dismissal of, 1211 
Employment, pay and contract, 

1206-1211 
Examination and certification, 

1202-1205 
Music, physical culture and draw- 
ing, 1239 
Pensions, 1218, 1219 
Registers, duties as to, 1250, 1308, 

1309 
Retirement fund, 1220-1231 
Revocation of certificates, 1203 
Rural schools, reimbursement by 

state, 1208, 1209, (VI) 1371 
Teacher-training courses, 1214- 

1217, (III) 1371 
Testing sight and hearing of pupils, 

1319 
Time aUowed to, 1212, 1213 
Violation of law, penalty for, 1268 

Textbooks and Appliances, 

Directors to provide, 1327 
Injury to, action for, 1328 
Lanterns and slides, 1180 
Nonresident pupils furnished, 1327 
Selection; penalty for taking gra- 
tuity, 1329 
Superintendent to approve of, 1327 
Supplementary agricultural reader, 
1238 

Town District, 

Action against if order not paid, 

1333 
Book rent, payment of, 1287 
Establishnient, officers, etc., 1183- 

1201 
Grand list, taxes, etc., 1331, 1332 
High school maintained, or higher 

education furnished, 1275, 1284, 

1297 
Incorporated school district, union 

with, 1395-1397 
Jimior high schools maintained, 

1293 
Meetings; warnings, 1185 
Officers elected at town meetings, 

1185 
Officers, women may be, 1188 
Pensions voted by, 1218, 1219 
School directors, 1187, 1189-1196 



Town District, Con. 

State aid for advanced instruction, 
1288, 1289, (VII) 1371, 1374 

Town clerk's duties, 1184 

Treasurer; duties; reports, 1333, 
1334 

Tuition in high school, etc., liabil- 
ity for, 1282-1286 

Vacancies among officers, 1190, 
1196 

Vocational courses, reimbursement 
for, 1299, 1300 

Voters, eligibility of, 1186, 1188 



Transportation and Board, 

Appeal to commissioner of educa- 
tion, 1273 
Apportionment for, 1271, (V) 1371 
General provisions, 1269-1274 
Superintendent to report as to, 1274 



Transportation and Board, Con. 
Transportation of advanced pupils, 
1290 

Truant Officers, 

Appointment, 1200 

Complaints by, 1258 

Duties on pupils' nonattendance, 

1258-1262 
Fees, 1201 
Neglect of official duty; penalty, 

1267 
Nonresident pupils, jurisdiction 
over, 1262 

Notice of nonattendance, 1256 
Power to take pupils to school, 1259 
Unorganized towns and gores, 1303 
Who are ex officio, 1200 

Unorganized Towns and Gores, 

1303 



73 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

019 748 506 1 



